LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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LETTERS 



FEOM 



F L O K I D A 



BY 

Mrs. H. W. BEECHER, 

AUTHOR OF 

"motherly talks," "all around the house," etc. 



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NEW YORK : 
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 

549 AND 551 BROADWAY. 
1879. 



COPTKIGHT BY 

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 

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PREFACE. 



These Letters from Florida, by request of many 
friends, are offered to the public in a simple, con- 
venient form. They do not claim to be a history 
of Florida, but only the impressions left on a prac- 
tical mind after several years of close observation, 
which have been growing stronger each year. 

I firmly believe that these letters do not ex- 
aggerate the wonderful capabilities of this lovely 
country. If some of my readers have the privilege 
of spending a few months there, for two or three 
years in succession, I am confident that my " im- 
pressions " will be so strongly confirmed as to be 
accepted as trustworthy authority. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Letter I. A Home and Woek foe all ... 7 
II. Castles in Spain . . . . . 21 

III. Lift tip the Hands that hang down and 

STEENGTHEN THE FeEBLE KnEES . .30 

IV. What has been done, and can be done 

AGAIN 42 

V. What have you to say about Malaeial 

Fever? ....... 54 

VI. Seek the Truth in Private Homes, not 

IN Hotel Life 67 

Appendix 79 



LETTERS EEOM FLORIDA. 



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LETTER I. 



A HOME AND WORK FOR ALL. 









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When on board the 
steamer which was to bear 
me from the coming snows of the 
North to the soft, balmy air of our 
Southern shores, you requested me to 
send you some letters from Florida. The request, 
on recalling it, strikes me as somewhat indefinite. If 
you look for something sensational or romantic, you 
are doomed to a grievous disappointment. That is 
not my vocation — more's the pity ! For never was 
there a more ample field for the imagination to revel 
in uncontrolled, or richer opportunities for blending 



8 LETTERS FKOM FLORIDA. 

romance and reality, than this land of flowers offers to 
the gifted ; but, to do it justice, to develop half the 
wonderful beauties of these bewildering regions calls 
for a more skillful artist. I can but look with long- 
ing on this promised land, this storehouse of poetry 
and romance ; I may not unlock the gates and enter in. 

Right here, close by where I now write, from 
among the beautiful palmettoes, and under the grand 
old oaks, one still hears the whispers of a wild and 
terrible tragedy, as full of strange and thrilling inci- 
dents from which to weave a story as the most sensa- 
tional writer can desire — one abundantly able to satisfy 
those who are only content with graphic or startling 
narratives, or who most delight to " sup on horrors." 
We refer to the Mandarin massacre of 1841, which 
left this lovely village desolate. The Indians de- 
stroyed every living soul save some of the inhabitants 
who were absent on a hunting expedition, and one 
little boy who escaped their fiendish tortures by hid- 
ing in a dense grove of palmettoes. That same boy, 
now a middle-aged man, still resides here, occupying 
a house built on the spot where all his friends were 
murdered. 

St. Augustine is one vast reservoir of infinite 
suggestions and rich material, that have come down 
from all the prominent nations of the earth as a legacy 
— a bountiful supply for some future genius of our 
own land, who, as Walter Scott did for his country, 
will collect and weave into story or song the many 
strange, wild scenes, the romantic incidents and thrill- 
ing adventures in which this region abounds. Such 



A HOME AND WORK FOR ALL. 9 

a one will win immortal fame by saving the history 
of this fair land from " sinking into the darkness of 
oblivion." 

Until within a comparatively few years Florida 
was a bone of contention, or the foot-ball of which- 
ever nation had the skill or craft to gain possession of 
her and keep her the longest. For a year or two it 
was in the hands of the French ; then wrested from 
their grasp by the Spaniards, only to be snatched 
from both by the strong arm of England. 

The French coveted this lovely country because 
they saw in its profusion of fruits and flowers, its 
brilliant and sweet-singing birds, and soft, balmy air, 
the promise of a life of ease and perpetual enjoyment, 
and hoped to find among its wonderful mineral springs 
the legendary " fountain of life and perpetual youth." 
The Spaniards reached out after it, hoping, with ar- 
rogant and despotic power, to wring from the toil 
of natives, through merciless taskmasters, fabulous 
wealth, which they imagined was hid in its bosom. 
The English, more practical, discovered at once that 
its great wealth lay in the rich fruits and productions 
of its soil, which through well-directed labor would 
give to them a rich possession. They sought to de- 
velop the resources of the land by suitable cultiva- 
tion and organizing manufactories for such work as 
promised to bring forward the best that Florida could 
yield in the most remunerative manner. 

But neither held this goodly land long enough 
under their rule to enjoy much of that which each 
most desired. Yet the very strife and misrule that 



10 LETTERS FROM FLORIDA. 

prevailed until a recent period have made Florida rich 
in wild and fanciful lore ; and ere long, under wise 
and more permanent government, this now sparsely- 
settled region will become populous. Then towns 
and villages lovely as any New England can boast — 
and where can you find any more lovely ? — will look 
out from these graceful palms and palmettoes, or find 
grateful shade under the lofty magnolia and gigantic 
live oak, gray with moss, that stand like giant sen- 
tinels all along the shores of the grand and beautiful 
St. John's. 

Amid such surroundings some one will rise up 
whose fertile imagination can combine and skillfully 
weave together the many romantic incidents to be 
found among the curious legends of Florida. But 
that is a work upon which I may not venture. Truth 
unvarnished is, however, full of elements possessing 
more abiding attractions than the most brilliant story ; 
and to that I shall most strictly adhere. 

Finding it necessary to spend the spring months 
of the last few years in Florida, the impressions made 
by these visits have greatly strengthened and become 
more of a fixed belief with each year's experience. 
This seems to me strong evidence that these impres- 
sions are worthy of credence, and may have more sub- 
stantial value than should be conceded to simple nov- 
elty or a passing fancy. 

There are not many ladies so situated that they 
are obliged to witness or understand so much of the 
sufferings and deprivations among the poor as is daily 
brought to our door ; and the utter impossibility of 



A HOME AND WORK FOR ALL. H 

giving substantial relief to any appreciable extent is 
a source of acute distress. 

Some assistance is needed every morning, and, to 
be effective, must often be renewed every evening, 
and for an indefinite period. The sick, the wicked, 
the unfortunate, and those ready to perish, are " le- 
gion." They come from all nations and from every 
class of people. Who shall feed this great multitude ? 
But who can turn a deaf ear to their complaints, or 
send them away empty, without a grievous heartache ? 
There is no end to their calls-f or help. ISlo permanent 
relief for those who suffer. 

That much of this destitution is the result of im- 
providence, carelessness, or actual wrong-doing, no 
one can deny. But when the curse has fallen, and 
want and suffering take hold of them, it is too late to 
speak of the sad mistakes. At least, let the past sleep 
if you can, while looking for present help, and by 
sympathy and kindness endeavor to build up a better 
life. How can this be done ? 

It is a well-established fact that giviJig to the poor 
and unfortunate is a bad policy, and usually, except in 
extreme cases, demoralizing to the recipient. It is a 
perpetual tax on the benevolent, as well as a cruel 
kindness to the poor, destroying eventually all energy 
and self-respect. 

Give work, not alms. Find something, however 
trifling, which each applicant for charity 'inust do, to 
earn even the crumbs that fall from the rich man's 
table. 

Ah ! yes. This may be w4se and most excellent 



12 LETTERS FROM FLORIDA. 

advice ; but tell me lohere to find employment for the 
hundreds who besiege our doors day after day. No 
one individual can do this. Then how is this sage 
advice to be followed ? That is the true question for 
these times — a question for which hundreds and thou- 
sands are anxiously waiting an answer. 
/^ The hard times of the last few years have cruelly 
tried some of our most valued and refined citizens, 
and now they who were once the foremost in every 
good word and work are suffering, with their deli- 
cately nurtured families, for the common necessaries 
of life, which the severity of our Northern winters 
renders truly indispensable. But, unlike those who 
are always roaming from street to street, noisily j^ro- 
claiming their wants, these ask no alms, but only 
" For God's sake give us vjorJc, that we may save our 
families from freezing and starvation ! " 

How often have I been met by such piteous appli- 
cations from people well known, and most worthy of 
assistance ! But — icork ! It is hard to find — more 
scarce even than true charity. It is from such ap- 
peals that I turn with an aching heart, powerless to 
comfort, but earnestly coveting the power to trans- 
port such applicants to a climate so genial, for a large 
part of the year, that the most destitute, if willing to 
make an effort in their own behalf, have a chance for 
some relief, and often may secure comforts which they 
can not have in our Northern winters. 

How I long to see those who at the North are 
weary, seeking work and finding none, down here in 
Florida, where for fifty dollars forty acres of land 



A HOME AND WORK FOR ALL. 13 

can be purchased, around the lovely inland lakes, 
of ready access by rail ; or for fourteen dollars and 
sixty cents a quarter section of Government land can 
be " entered," free from taxes for five years, or long 
enough to bring the land into a state of cultivation 
that will yield a very comfortable support till an 
orange grove is well established, and the trees almost 
old enough to give fair promise of remuneration. 
When a section is entered, with any just hope of fu- 
ture success, it should be done by those who are pre- 
pared to " rough it," who are not afraid of hard work 
and simple food for a few years. 

It is useless for any to attempt to build up an in- 
dependent home here, or anywhere, if they begin the 
operation under the impression that, having " entered " 
the land, they are to live henceforth on a bed of roses. 
With that class of the poor we have no sympathy ; 
but with those who are not afraid to work, even though 
subjected to some rough fare before they master the 
situation, we have unlimited earnest sympathy. 

Those who " enter " land, or " take up " a quar- 
ter section, may not find steady and profitable em- 
ployment with others all the time ; but they will 
find abundant need of all their energies in improving 
their own land, cheered by the thought that every 
week's work, and all their efforts to economize and 
save, though at first hard, are but preparing the way 
for a comfortable home for their later years. 

" Well," say you, " this sounds plausible ; but — if 

too poor to provide for their families at the North, 

how are they to get to Florida, and buy the forty 
2 



X4: LETTERS FROM FLORIDA. 

acres or the quarter section of land? That's an 
important question ; and if you can't point out the 
way to effect this, the whole idea is simply visionary." 

Ah ! but I only said I coveted the power to bring 
the industrious poor out to Florida, and see them well 
started in this mode of supporting themselves and 
families. That power unfortunately I do not possess, 
and am not so foolish as to imagine destitute people 
can come unaided. But, stop a moment, and honestly 
make a business-like calculation, and then tell me if 
you think my idea so wild or visionary afterward. 
On the contrary, do you not see, after a few mo- 
ments' reflection, that such a plan might be a good 
and economical investment for the benevolent, as well 
as for the suffering and unfortunate ? 

Fairly estimated, how much do you imagine the 
reasonably kind-hearted and benevolent people at the 
North, in comfortably prosperous circumstances, usu- 
ally give every winter in charity ? In this estimate, 
bear in mind also how much is as good as thrown 
away, because often given thoughtlessly — not so much 
to help the poor, or honor God, as " lest by their con- 
tinual coming they weary me." 

Alms recklessly or inconsiderately given are often 
worse than wasted. Now, would not a large propor- 
tion of the truly charitably disposed feel that one 
hundred dollars a year was a cheap release from per- 
petual solicitation ? Judging from experience, i^ 
seems a low estimate — and many better able would, 
I doubt not, gladly purchase this freedom by five 
times that sum. And reflect, when one is thus beset, 



A HOME AND WORK FOR ALL. 15 

how very small the sum must be which is given to any 
one at our doors. Even if only divided among a few 
of these claimants it will be hardly sufficient to have 
an appreciable value, distributed as it must be in ho- 
moeopathic quantities ; and by to-morrow each will be 
as much in need of assistance as before. 

Besides greatly diminishing one's own trouble, 
would not the amount of actual good accomplished be 
vastly increased, if there were some hopes of lasting, 
substantial benefit ? Would it not be a truer, nobler 
charity, first to understand the character and actual 
wants of those most needing assistance, and then care- 
fully to estimate how much one may feel justified in 
giving toward supplying one person or one family with 
immediate food and daily work, until you can make 
suitable arrangements for their independent support ? 

Select those you are confident are the most deserv- 
ing and most anxious to work. With part of the 
money buy a " land warrant," or a " homestead^'' in 
Florida, giving the recipient choice of location. With 
the remainder of the money supply as far as possible 
a common outfit. Try your own talent for heggiyig 
for once, at least, so far as to secure a passage on some 
of the Southern steamers, and a little money for farm- 
ing implements, to start at least one family a year in a 
new home in Florida. 

If these beneficiaries are wisely selected, and have 
that natural energy and love of independence that 
will make them accept such hardships and sacrifices 
as must of necessity mark the first steps of any new 
occupation, one may rest satisfied that, by thus con- 



16 LETTERS FROM FLORIDA. 

centrating their charities, one family at least a year 
may be placed in a fair way for independent support. 
This can never be done for those who go begging from 
door to door, losing each day more and more of their 
self-respect. But if a family thus placed have courage 
to accept with cheerfulness the early • hardships for 
the joy that is set before them, they have a prospect 
of building up, slowly but surely, a respectable and 
independent home. 

" You are talking wildly ! Suppose the land war- 
rant, or homestead, secured — the log-house erected ; 
how is it to be furnished ? How provide their daily 
food while clearing off the woods, preparing their land, 
and waiting for their crops to grow, even with the 
hundred dollars you speak of? You acknowledge 
they may not always be able to find sufficient employ- 
ment to help them to a trifle, weekly. How will you 
answer this ? " 

Well, a homestead of one hundred and fifty acres 
will cost fourteen dollars and sixty cents. With the 
sum named they will have eighty-six dollars left for 
indispensable articles, even if many cast-off articles of 
household stuff should not be given them when start- 
ing. Then, if some neighbors would club together 
and send several families of the worthy poor at the 
same time — a kind of colony, but not on the communi- 
ty plan — their money united would, by purchasing ar- 
ticles at wholesale, provide better for the ivhole than 
could be done for one family alone. If each of these 
charitably disposed persons should, about the time this 
colony is starting, have " a clearing-up day," and empty 



A HOME AND WORK FOR ALL. 17 

their attics of clothes and furniture that do no good, 
but are always in the way, they would be surprised to 
learn how useful " such rubbish " can be made, and 
how thankfully it would be received. 

But as to the furnishing of that log-house, you 
have no conception of the very little furniture that is 
really absolutely necessary here — or indeed anywhere 
— to make a family reasonably comfortable. Pros- 
perity and wealth multiply the things we must have 
in a marvelous manner, and increase the work that 
must be done in the same proportion. In some leisure 
hour take paper and pencil, and, beginning with your 
own room, put down the articles in that one spot that 
you could do without, and be none the less happy or 
comfortable. 

When people go into the wilderness, and are inde- 
pendent of any *' hired help," their wants and abso- 
lutely necessary equipments diminish with surprising 
rapidity. I, for one, would like no better amuse- 
ment than to come here with some few who, like 
yourself, will think I am talking wildly, and show 
you how all I have planned can be done. With a 
good stock of patience, fortitude, and good nature — 
without which no one is of much value — I should not 
fear the experiment. A healthful amount of hard 
work and self-denial may be expected for a few years ; 
but that, in itself, brings genuine enjoyment to an in- 
dependent spirit, especially when a ho7ne lies just be- 
yond. And with all this I could promise, as the chil- 
dren say, " lots of fun " besides. 

If, in some of those emergencies which will often 



18 LETTERS FROM FLORIDA. 

occur in the early days of any new work, it should 
now and then be found necessary to live for a few 
days on good " bread and water ^"^ what then ? We 
have tried it quite close enough to understand just 
what that means ; and we also know how a brave and 
cheerful spirit can bring light into the darkest hour, 
and a good hearty laugh can give even to such monas- 
tic fare a piquancy and relish not always found at ta- 
bles loaded with the choicest viands. But in this new 
life to which we long to bring those at the North who 
are destitute and suffering, there is little fear of any 
" bread and water " diet, while the rivers and forests 
abound with food, to be had without money and 
without price. 

The number of dishes required by those who de- 
manded three or four courses or more for their daily 
dinner will not be needed here ; and the cooking uten- 
sils and furniture which we think so important in our 
Northern homes can be easily dispensed with in a 
pioneer's first efforts. Many things can be manufac- 
tured by one's own self or by some of the family with- 
out going to the very extreme of retrenchment, or 
losing sight of neatness and respectability. And thus 
in every department one soon learns how very little is 
actually required to insure a good share of comfort 
and enjoyment. 

I know of those who, losing all at the North but 
tfieir patience, energy, and industry, have managed to 
get down to Florida and enter a " homestead." Erect- 
ing a rough but comfortable shelter, and furnishing it 
with what they would once have thought were worth- 



A HOME AND WORK FOR ALL. 19 

less scraps that remained out of former abundance, 
and such articles as their skill or ingenuity could 
manufacture, they prepared a neat and pleasant abode. 
In this work the women of the family employed every 
leisure moment to increase their comforts, or make the 
place attractive, while they were ever ready to help 
their husbands and sons in putting in the needed crops 
as fast as the land was cleared. While waiting for 
these crops to ripen, the men take an hour when needed 
to keep a plentiful supply of food by hunting and fish- 
ing. Whenever opportunity offered, a few days' work 
for neighbors now and then supplied comforts which 
they could not raise from their land, or which were de- 
sirable. And in this primitive, impromptu home, they 
already see promise of a bright and peaceful future. 
A little self-denial for a few years, and these new set- 
tlers may look with confidence to the time when they 
will have every comfort that a healthy, independent 
life requires, and may safely look forward to a not dis- 
tant future when they will be the owners of valuable 
property, with all the luxuries that may be thought 
desirable. 

. I am only speaking of what I have seen. That 
there are difficulties and discouragements between the 
first steps of such an undertaking and the day which 
will put the feet on firm foundations, I do not deny. 
But tell me of any important enterprise which ever 
begins smoothly, and marches on to full consumma- 
tion without a rij^ple of trouble or anxiety — without 
many mistakes, and perhaps some serious disasters ! 
I think there is less to fear in seeking to build up a 



20 LETTERS FROM FLORIDA. 

home in Florida — bearing in mind to the fullest extent 
all the difficulties one is liable to encounter — than when 
entering a new and untried field elsewhere. This de- 
lightful climate, the rapid growth of vegetation, the 
comparatively short time that must intervene before 
one begins to reap the fruit of well-directed industry, 
all conspire to cheer the spirits, to keep the courage 
alive, and to lighten burdens which but for such en- 
couragement might become oppressive. 

I have many " Castles in Spain," built when, miser- 
ably sick and feeble, we first came to Florida, and 
which ever since, as we see more of this charming 
country, have been rising on firmer foundations than 
such castles can usually boast. Some of these I will 
show you ; but, having already lingered too long, I 
will close now, reserving them for the next letter. 
My " Castles " are sufficiently stable to keep another 
week. 



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LETTER II. 



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V CASTLES IN SPAIN. 

i|j\ On my first visit to 

; this land 












" Of birds and bowers, 
Where at once upon the 
orange-tree 
...---/ \ ^ ^gj, fruitage and her 



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■,j flowers,' 



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I was too ill to 

more than realize the 

luxury of breathing easily 

and with daily increasing 

comfort, and therefore did little but 

quietly indulge in day dreams. Will 



/"\ j you visit with me presently some of 



22 LETTERS FROM FLORIDA. 

the " castles " so often built and filled with happy ten- 
ants ? 

The first visit to Florida seldom awakens much 
enthusiasm. It requires time to become accustomed 
to the great dissimilarity between this section of our 
country and the colder regions. One pines for the 
green fields, the ripening grass, the merry haymaking 
and harvests, the marks of more rapid progress and 
broader civilization, which form a prominent feature 
at the North. We forget the olden times, when, in its 
primitive, uncultured state, it was as a country far 
more wild and dreary than anything seen in Florida. 
But now it shows what labor and skill, united, can do. 
It has made our cold and rocky North bud and blos- 
som like the rose. Spread over Florida the same skill 
and energetic labor that for the last century has grad- 
ually clothed and beautified the North, and in less 
than one third of that time this State will be like 
the garden of Eden, and all traces of the ruin and 
desolation which war has left will be for ever oblit- 
erated. 

The first visits to this part of our land are more 
frequently made for health than for pleasure ; and, 
not realizing how many things indispensable at the 
North are unnecessary here, it is not strange that 
for a while one longs for "the flesh-pots of Egypt." 
With little or no expectation that it may be necessary 
to repeat the visit, there is no inducement for any spe- 
cial investigation as to the prudence, comfort, plea- 
sure, or profit of securing a permanent winter resi- 
dence in Florida. 



CASTLES IN SPAIN. 23 

Then, again, those who can be content and happy- 
only in the excitements and enjoyments of fashion- 
able life will never be attracted here, unless for a fly- 
ing visit ; and then, instead of learning anything of 
the country, they will be disposed to pass their time 
in a round of frivolous pleasures which can be easily 
found in many of the attractive and fashionable ho- 
tels. These are not the best places in which to learn 
all about the resources of Florida, and form a correct 
estimate of her wonderful capabilities. Unless such a 
life is the height of their desires and ambition, few 
will spend a second winter here — breathe this soft and 
balmy air, enjoy the brilliant flowers and lovely birds, 
and partake of the delicious fruits, and just begin 
to form some estimate of its natural advantages 
and vast resources — without being conscious that a 
strong attachment has been formed, and by and by 
a great desire to secure at least a winter residence 
here. 

At present, however, while so much of all that 
was once most beautiful lies desolate in many parts of 
this country through the devastations of war, and so 
much money and labor will be needed to restore the 
waste places and revive the original loveliness, the 
growth of interest, mostly through transient visitors, 
must of necessity be much too slow for our impa- 
tience. Yet it is impossible to doubt that, with intel- 
ligently directed labor, it will be no herculean task to 
make the future of this fair land far transcend its 
former beauty and productiveness. So confident am I 
that great results are possible, it is diflicult to " pos- 



24 LETTERS FROM FLORIDA. 

sess my soul in patience " till this work of rejuvenation 
begins to advance more rapidly. 

But, while there is no spot on earth where the poor, 
if willing to work industriously (and they deserve 
little sympathy if they are not), can be made so com- 
fortable, and with reasonable hopes of increasing pros- 
perity with each coming year, still it is the young 
— those who are in search of some desirable spot on 
which to erect their altars, and build and consecrate 
" wedded love's first home " — who can do more than 
any other class to make this now sparsely settled coun- 
try all that the Maker prepared it to be. It was with 
this class before my mind that I was planning and 
dreaming during all the long hours and days of weak- 
ness, in my first visit to Florida ; and these dreams, I 
assuredly believe, will be in some degree realized and 
at no very distant day. 

Oh ! the many neat and comfortable homes that 
those who are just beginning their new and indepen- 
dent life could establish here, and with comparatively 
little expenditure of money ! Ah ! the homes with 
the promise of future independence for the honest 
but unfortunate poor, who are now suffering at the 
North, which I have planned in my wakeful hours 
during these long winter nights, when my Northern 
friends are trying to forget snow and ice and sleety 
winds in most unprofitable slumber ! What if my 
castles do vanish in the morning ? I shall build them 
again, and nothing can rob me of the faith that, not 
many years hence, in God's good time, a way will be 
provided by which my structures shall have firm and 



CASTLES IN SPAIN. 25 

abiding foundations, and these visions of the night 
no longer fade before the brightness of the rising 
sun. 

To restore that which war has laid in ruins, and 
establish communications through which the produc- 
tions of these regions will be sure of good markets, 
and amicable exchange become easy to all parts of our 
land, we must be largely indebted, no doubt, to the 
good and wise action of those in power. When un- 
principled politicians, both North and South, shall 
have become entangled in the nets they have spread 
for the unwary, and, reaping the fruits of their own 
selfish follies, shall have been put aside for honest 
men to fill their places (for surely there are more 
than ten righteous men left to save our country) — men 
who will labor earnestly to establish good institutions 
of every kind, and secure every facility for rapid 
transportation and communication all over our land — 
the7i we may confidently hope to see developed the 
best moral elements as well as the full natural re- 
sources of this whole united country. 

But while recognizing the great importance of co- 
operation and aid from our Government to secure the 
most speedy development of this and all other States 
in our Union, we also know that much can and must 
be done, by individual effort, while waiting for the 
tardy assistance of those in high places. 

On my first visit to Florida I spent several weeks 
in a part of the State where I had the best opportuni- 
ties of constantly observing what ignorance, neglect, 
and misfortune had done^ and, by the contrast which 



26 LETTERS FROM FLORIDA. 

lay ever before me, realizing what education, good 
taste, and industry, with but very little money, can do. 
It was on the St. Mark's. The place was once deemed 
the Saratoga of Florida, but during the war had been 
almost entirely destroyed. Three years before my 
visit it was waste and barren ; but from my window I 
could then see a large track of land well plowed, and 
neatly fenced, where grain and potatoes were cover- 
ing the broad fields with rich green, and where the 
newly planted cotton and sugar-cane would before 
many days spring up with promise of abundant and 
remunerative harvest. 

What had wrought this change ? What had made 
this oasis in the desert ? Three years before a feeble, 
gray-haired man, over whom the doctors had pro- 
nounced sentence of death, resolved to make one more 
effort for life, and try what Florida, instead of phy- 
sicians, could do for him. He purchased the only 
orange-grove of any size that had survived the gen- 
eral desolation — an old grove, whose trees, moss-bound 
and covered with lichens, gave but faint promise of 
rejuvenation. The fences all around the place were 
tumbling down, gates off the hinges, and everything 
telling of neglect, desertion, and decay. 

In the middle of the grove stood a long, rambling, 
one-story house, with many dilapidated out-buildings. 
It was evidently once among the aristocratic resi- 
dences of the place, but, like the grove and surround- 
ing property, was fast tending to ruin. 

Here, sick and very feeble, the new owner began 
the work of rejuvenating both the property and him- 



CASTLES IN SPAIN. 27 

self — not by waiting for strength to come to him, but 
by crmvUng — for at first it was literally nothing more 
— out after it ; beginning by sitting in an easy-chair 
in the fields and giving directions to his hired men ; 
then, as fast as strength was gathered in, working 
with his own hands, at first only a few moments at a 
time, then stopping to rest. 

So the first year sped by. Believing that strength 
is given for use, and, if employed with judgment, will 
take unto itself a double quantity, he daily " traded " 
with his small capital of strength, and found that it 
surely increased and multiplied with wonderful ra-- 
pidity. 

Three years later, at the time of our visit, we found 
this man vigorous and full of energy and resolute in- 
dustry. The colored men in his employ would often 
stand in open-mouthed amazement when witnessing 
his untiring resolution, thus receiving a lesson in in- 
dustry they sadly needed. Such lessons are by far 
more forcible and effective when taught by deeds 
rather than icords. True, that race is slow to learn 
such lessons, but little by little they take root, and 
the growth is perhaps first seen in the increased care 
and neatness about their own humble homes and small 
gardens ; but in time this mode of teaching will de- 
velop lasting and effective industry. 

Now, six years from the time when this gray-haired 
man with feeble steps began his work on a place 
which, like himself, seemed past renovating, you will 
not find anywhere a happier, more energetic man, or 
one who can easily accomplish so much labor ; or a 



28 LETTERS FROM FLORIDA. 

more flourishing orange-grove, or more neatly fenced 
and productive fields. The moss and lichens, the 
scale-insects, and other evils that were killing the 
groves, are all destroyed under this skillful manage- 
m.ent and wise administration ; the trees, grown young 
and vigorous, are repaying their owner for his care by 
yielding the largest and most perfect fruit that can be 
seen anywhere. 

But this man, whose life has been prolonged and 
strengthened for many years of usefulness by this 
wonderful climate, has not given his attention solely 
to orange-culture. He is testing the fertility and re- 
sources of Florida in every way that promises success 
and remuneration. He is raising sugar-cane, and mak- 
ing sugar and molasses from it, himself. Irish and sweet 
potatoes, and all kinds of vegetables and luxuries that 
belong to a well-kept farm, or plantation, receive the 
amount of attention that best promises or secures a 
plentiful harvest. 

In the next letter I desire to show you the con- 
trast between this earnest, systematic, intelligent kind 
of labor, and that careless surface work which never 
produces half that this soil can so readily be made to 
yield, and also bring to your notice the work which 
youth, strength, and firmer health have done toward 
building up a comfortable home, with every promise 
of ease and competency, for their mature manhood 
and their parents' declining years. 

This one village, and the opportunities of improv- 
ing it till it shall far outshine its best condition before 
the war, is only a sample of many others. Under- 



CASTLES IN SPAIN. 29 

stand that I make no pretense of giving you a history 
of Florida, but only, at your request, send you my 
impressions, and sucli positive knowledge as I gather 
from good authority, careful observation, and practi- 
cal oversight of a few acres. 






=-=— ^ J^ lit '1 X 

^.^ — W' 









LETTER III. 

LIFT UP THE HANDS THAT HANG 
DOWN AND STRENGTHEN THE 
FEEBLE KNEES. 



YotJ have not forgotten the state- 
ment I gave of what can and has been 
done in one of the least encouragmg lo- 
calities in this country by a feeble man 
who came here with seemingly no chance 
for life ; you can now understand how, 
with slowly returning health, under the 
recuperating influences of this delightful 
climate, aided by resolute, energetic, and 
practical labor, he has changed the wil- 
derness into the fertile garden which I 
see before me from the windows where 
I now write. But you must be told of 
Florida as you would find it were you 
here — the good and the bad — if you would gain a cor- 
rect impression of this strangely beautiful country. 

I have told you of my window-view. Now step 
out into the moonlight, as I have often done, from 



LIFT UP THE HANDS THAT HANG DOWN. 31 

among the orange-trees, or under the China-tree which 
overhangs the gate. Right before us lies the saddest 
thing that can be imagined, next to a desolate heart 
— a deserted milage. Roofless churches, tenantless 
houses, all that fire and fierce bombardment left 
standing, rapidly falling to pieces ; fenceless and un- 
tilled fields, groves of orange-trees, once white with 
perfumed blossoms, or golden with luscious fruit, now 
moss-grown, covered with lichens and other destruc- 
tive parasites — the dead limbs more abundant than the 
living. 

How often from such moonlight scenes have I re- 
turned to my room to spend many sleepless hours in 
trying to devise some practical scheme by which hun- 
dreds of the skillful and intelligent men and women, 
suffering for food and the bitter cold at the North, 
could be transplanted to this or many similar spots 
in Florida \ Put some of our Northern sufferers, who 
are now walking our streets half starved or freezing, 
down here, set them to work, and they would show 
better than tongue or pen can describe what a few 
months of intelligent industry and skill can effect, 
even in a place which on first sight seems worthless 
and past reclaiming. 

But bringing this land under proper cultivation, 
and redeeming it from the wilderness, is only a small 
part of the good which might be accomplished. 
Think of the incomparably more important good 
which would result from such divine charity. Men, 
women, and children saved from that cruel want and 
beggary, which so soon dwarfs and wellnigh destroys 



32 LETTERS FEOM FLORIDA. 

a human being — eating away courage, energy, self- 
reliance, and independence ! To lift up and purify, 
to encourage and ennoble any portion of the human 
race — ^is not that even a more blessed work than to 
repair the waste places of earth, and make " the wil- 
derness bud and blossom like the rose " ? 

But think what it would be to unite the two la- 
bors ! What nobler work can any one desire than to 
strengthen the weak, heal the sick, feed the hungry, 
find homes for the homeless, and transform into self- 
supporting men and women those who now overtax 
our sympathies and drain our purses, without securing 
any permanent relief. And add to all this that, by 
the very act of relieving these unfortunate people, the 
ruined villages are rebuilt, and the beauty and pro- 
ductiveness which God has given to this country are 
in a promising way to be richly developed. 

But while such visions rise before one of what 
this land, now crippled and defaced by the ravages of 
war and the neglect that must follow it, might be 
made in a few years with proper care and resolute in- 
dustry, and the hosts of sufferers that might be trans- 
formed into useful, happy citizens, one must not 
make the common mistake of supposing that this 
transformation can be effected without hard work — 
without much fatigue and some discouragements. 
Such drawbacks are met with in every pursuit, in 
every undertaking. Often many days of hard work 
are lost through inexperience ; but such losses should 
teach lessons that seldom need to be repeated, and 
therefore such experience is not dearly purchased* 



LIFT UP THE HANDS THAT HANG DOWN. 33 

How smaU a proportion of what is given every 
month in careless or injudicious charity, or wasted 
in frivolous and unsatisfying pleasures, would sup- 
port a whole family here, and, best of all, give them 
the first fair start toward independent, useful citi- 
zenship ! 

But something even better often springs from 
such wise investments. It is not simply finding food 
and shelter for the miserable ; but, without some kind 
hand stretched out to save by securing a self-sup- 
porting position, many a family — buffeted and tossed 
about, gleaning a precarious living in the hardest pos- 
sible way — has through want and discouragement sunk 
into a listless apathetic state, which leaves them an 
easy prey to the very worst temptations. Who will 
be obliged to pay the taxes which vice and crime im- 
pose on a community? Is it not a better economy 
to aid the poor and suffering to gain a foothold on a 
spot where, by industry, they can support themselves, 
and through such industry be redeemed, if helped in 
time, from a life of want and wretchedness, that may 
tempt to sin, that sooner or later will destroy both 
body and soul ? 

By raising up and repairing the doors of some of the 
half-destroyed houses in the waste places which war 
has left in Florida — by mending broken windows and 
neatly curtaining them — no longer allowing the blinds 
to swing on one hinge at the mercy of every wind 
that blows — how soon might one see a neat white- 
washed cottage peeping out from under the well- 
trimmed orange or shade trees ! Why, a smart active 



M LETTERS FROM FLORIDA. 

woman Avould not rest long until — alone, if it must be 
— she had brought some order out of this confusion, 
some beauty out of this decay ! I know I should for- 
get fatigue and suffering in the great pleasure of 
working out such transformation. 

Do not think that Florida is full of deserted vil- 
lages and moss-grown orange-groves. Some of the old 
villages still remain unoccupied, and are rapidly losing 
all semblance of anything that was probably once the 
homes of refined and wealthy people ; but Northern 
enterprise and activity are improving and building 
up most of these waste places, and it will not be many 
years before these will become habitable, comfortable 
dwellings — if not stately mansions — and well-culti- 
vated and productive orange-groves. 

" But an effort to reclaim such old, half -dead trees 
as you have told of seems preposterous. I should pre- 
fer to grub up such unsightly objects, plant a young 
grove, and possess my soul in patience till they came 
to maturity." 

That, begging your pardon, proves your ignorance 
as rcgards arange-culture. You have been told how 
only one year's skillful labor was repaid. I should 
have jumped to the same conclusion that you have 
when I first saw some of the long-neglected groves, 
gnarled and unsightly, with no promise of " a green 
old age " ; but since then I have seen trees much more 
unpromising, rejuvenated. The orange, when well nur- 
tured, grO'WS more and more remunerative every year 
after it first commences bearing, quite down to old 
age ; and even when neglected and abused for several 



LIFT UP THE HANDS THAT HANG DOWN. 35 

years, it quickly and gratefully responds to the first 
touch of kindness and proper care. 

Scrape off the moss, remove the lichens, cut away 
all dead branches, wash and scrub the bark, plow care- 
fully all through the grove, and enrich the ground 
with muck from the swamps and river banks — first 
having this muck properly mixed with ashes, lime, 
leaves, etc., and leaving it to be well combined — witli, 
for a time, some bo7ie meal spread over the ground 
and plowed in ; and in a year or two an old half -de- 
cayed grove will amply repay the owner by a crop of 
bright and healthy fruit. If this care is continued, 
each year will increase the products of the trees ; and 
your grandchildren may find this grove, once appar- 
ently so near death, a handsome legacy. 

Bring down our Northern men who are begging for 
work, but finding none, and, as if by magic, not only 
will the work of re-creation go marching on, but new 
land will be broken up, young groves will be planted, 
and, where is now the wilderness, neatly fenced and 
well-tilled fields, rich in cane and cotton, will obliter- 
ate the intrenchments and earthworks, sad tokens of 
the war. Encroaching on the haunts of the deer and 
other wild animals, little hamlets will soon grow up, 
with broad streets, shaded by the rapidly growing 
trees that make these forests so lovely. The palmet- 
to, magnolia, liquid-amber or gum-tree — the oak, elm, 
pine, and a countless variety of trees, wliich in Florida 
pass quickly from infancy to mature and vigorous age 
— would in a marvelously short time canopy the streets 
of these young villages with a grateful shade, that a 



36 LETTERS FROM FLORIDA. 

Northern settlement would willingly work years to 
secure. 

Pretty settlements are springing up, not only along 
the banks of the St. John's, but around the beautiful 
inland lakes, where one family — and sometimes two or 
three — five or six years ago, felled the first trees and 
broke the ground in the midst of the forest, where 
never before had there .been an acre of cleared land. 
Some of these, when I first went South, were isolated, 
and to an inexperienced eye gave little promise of any 
great comfort or success. I judged, as you did, igno- 
rantly ; for now orange-groves, just coming into bear- 
ing, are plenty all along the banks, and pleasant cot- 
tages and neatly clad women and children indicate 
that they have passed out of pioneer life into organized 
townships or pleasant villages, making steady progress 
year by year toward elegant and refined homes. 

Many of these new settlements have been started 
by two or three brothers, leaving home to select 
the family homestead ; and after clearing and fenc- 
ing a few acres, getting in their first planting of 
vegetables, planting the seedlings or " sour stumps " 
for the young orange-groves, they exert their inge- 
nuity to erect a neat, comfortable shelter for their 
parents and the younge'r portion of the family, who 
will join them when all this rough preliminary work 
has prepared the way for them. 

Ah ! if you could realize how very truthful all this 
is, which — shivering over your Northern coal fires — 
may possibly appear like exaggeration or rhapsody, 
you could better understand how very small a portion 



LIFT UP THE HANDS THAT HANG DOWN. 37 

of that wealth which is so idly squandered every 
week for that which satisfieth not, could make hun- 
dreds happy and self-supporting, who now go hungry 
and wretched to untimely graves, for the lack of a 
little assistance. 

How often I have looked out on such places as 
have just been described — so full of promise if right- 
ly entered upon—and in imagination appropriated {by 
2wrmission) a part of the large sum a fashionable lady 
will spend on one party or ball — or, perhaps, a dinner 
in honor of some distinguished person who, in his 
heart, would gladly give half the sum to be excused 
from the infliction ; then imagined the comfortable 
homes such sums would provide for some deserving 
but unfortunate families. How those families need 
just this which Florida holds, waiting for them ! and, 
ah ! how Florida needs that class of people whom we 
would so gladly send to her shores ! 

True, that which we build in the night watches of 
comfort and beauty is demolished by the rising sun. 
But what more substantial can the fashionable lady 
show after expending so large a sum on her fancies ? 
Indeed, such dreamings as mine give a higher enjoy- 
ment, free from any of the inconvenience, fatigue, or 
heart-burnings which molest and irritate the fashiona- 
ble lady. We are up with the sun, feeling hopeful that 
a good time will surely come, by which some of those 
dreams may be worked out into realities. She, jaded 
and wellnigh exhausted — her gold s^oent for that 
which satisfieth not — drags her aching limbs to her 
chamber just as night gives place to morning, per- 



38 LETTERS FROM FLORIDA. 

haps secures a few hours of most unsatisfying slum- 
ber, and rises discontented, envious, and unhappy. 
For the time being there may be one sort of pleasure 
in these large, suffocating, and expensive entertain- 
ments ; but on retrospection, both for host and guests, 
the taste is too often like Jeremiah's figs — exceedingly 
bitter. 

Please remember, this is not all idle dreaming. I 
have seen these transformations and improvements in 
places and persons here, and they are not extreme 
c^ses. All that you can justly call visionary is the 
supposition that those who are joined to their idols — 
who live only for their own selfish gratification — will 
ever be disposed to deny themselves one extra ribbon 
to help feed the hungry, clothe the naked, or provide 
a home for the unsheltered wanderer. 

Our hope rests chiefly with those who find pleasure 
and comfort in helping the weary and heavy-laden — 
who only wait to see the open door, to step to the 
front in all acts of kindness. For the young it is an 
excellent incentive to secure a homestead and begin 
on new land ; for they can afford to take time — to be- 
gin at the beginning, and have what would be to me 
the great satisfaction of feeling that they had wrested 
a home from out of the wilderness, and built it up 
from the foundation by perseverance, energy, and solid 
labor. But for the feeble and aged there are many 
places in some of the deserted villages where, for a 
small sum, they can at once secure some old planta- 
tion, or a few acres, that, although neglected and 
tending to decay, can very soon be made sufiici^ntly 



LIFT UP THE HANDS THAT HANG DOWN. 39 

comfortable to shelter them at once, and by their own 
skill, little by little, be made a neat and pleasant 
home. 

Newport, on the St. Mark's, the west side of Flori- 
da, is one of these spots — given up by those of its 
former inhabitants who still live ; and yet the tenant- 
less, dilapidated houses, and fields run to waste, could 
soon be rejuvenated and be made productive, if there 
was any one with intelligence and industry to occupy 
and improve. To prove that my statement rests on 
more substantial foundations than a woman's imagina- 
tion, listen while I give you one example. In that one 
place alone there are many others of the same general 
character, but one will suffice. 

Just across the street from the plantation described 
in my first letter, there are two small cottages, better 
preserved than most of those lying vacant in that 
vicinity. The owners being scattered or dead, and 
the heirs making homes or in business elsewhere, both 
places, since the war, have stood empty and neglected. 
Each cottage has four good-sized rooms, with spacious 
fireplaces in each ; for, wood being abundant, there 
is no need of close economy in fuel. A latticed ver- 
anda separates the kitchen, store-rooms, and servants' 
rooms from the main building. A cemented cistern 
or reservoir of ample size is in the rear. A good barn, 
hen-house, and yard, all pertain to each place. There 
are a few young orange-trees just coming into bearing, 
pecan-trees, peaches, figs, grapes, and a few young 
apple-trees in good condition. Cape jessamine, crape 
myrtle, roses, and many other flowers made the places 



40 LETTERS FROM FLORIDA. 

bright and attractive, even with all the marks of 
neglect which they could not entirely conceal. 

The land on which these two cottages stand occu- 
pies one large square — I do not recollect the measure 
in rods or acres — each house owning half of the land. 
The heir of one of these places not being of age, it can 
not yet be sold ; but the other was purchased, to pre- 
vent its being occupied by tramps or rovers, to the 
detriment of a friend. The price given was one hun- 
dred dollars ! The purchaser, having other property in 
Florida, was ready to sell it whenever an active, ener- 
getic person should be found, who would be public- 
spirited enough to help reclaim and build up this vil- 
lage. In less than a year it was sold again for three 
hundred dollars! Now it is a pretty home ; and, 
though small, if the new owner proves intelligent, 
active, and, enterprising, the cotton, cane, and sweet 
potatoes which could be raised on the place will in a 
short time return the sum he gave for the whole ; and 
then he will be in a condition to extend his land to 
any extent at a simple nominal price. 

This is but one case. Only men and money to cul- 
tivate and improve the land are wanted to make this 
region rich in productiveness and as lovely as fairy land. 
Men begging only for work are scattered all over the 
North. Is there none among those who are annoyed 
and oppressed by the continued importunity of the 
destitute, who, even if they " fear not God nor regard 
man," will give of their abundance even so liberally as 
to send these claimants where work can be obtained, 
if only to free themselves from their importunity ? 



LIFT UP THE HANDS THAT HANG DOWN. 41 

Do you complain that this gives you little infor- 
mation about Florida ? Well, be patient. It was not 
a history that you requested — only the imjjressions 
that yearly visits to a land dearly loved have made 
on my own mind — impressions which I feel confident 
do not differ materially from well-authenticated facts, 
although I alone am responsible for what I write. 
Three or four years' steady efforts of earnest laborers 
have shown results that are almost like fairy-land 
tales. I write co7i amove, and therefore " hasten slow- 
ly," making perhaps the common mistake of thinking 
that what interests one most deeply must have the 
same attractions for all. 




LETTER IV. 



WHAT HAS 

r^ BEEN DONE, 

AND CAN BE 

DONE AGAIN. 



i ^ \j, There are 

"""'" some who by 

marriage step at once into elegant homes, and with- 
out exertion on their part are provided with an ample 
income and, as far as wealth and social position can 



WHAT HAS BEEN DONE. 43 

secure it, have every prospect of gliding tlirougli life 
" on the smooth surface of a summer sea." These are 
not likely to find any great attractions in Florida, or 
only those which tourists and pleasure-seekers are ex- 
pected to find in any new scenes. To be sure, some, 
with all that wealth can give, may be compelled to 
make this country their residence, or die. " All that 
a man hath will he give for his life." But if for this 
cause they settle here, their riches will cheat them 
out of half the true enjoyment those will find who 
come ready to work and build up — not to be waited 
upon and lead useless, self-indulgent lives. 

We do not look to this class with any hope that 
they will develop the wonderful, unlimited resources 
of Florida. To be sure, their money, if liberally 
used, will greatly assist others to open uj) all that now 
lies dormant here. But we look most hopefully to 
those who, having less of this world's goods, are 
forced to begin life in earnest, and with no expecta- 
tions but such as their own energy and industry will 
insure. And this class, if they have vigor, earnest- 
ness, and co.urage, with " all the world before them 
where to choose," will need no pity. They will be 
none the less happy for the lack of ready-Jiiade money, 
if they are sensible enough to understand that life 
was not given to be all play and romance, but full of 
various duties, to be gradually unfolded and developed 
in God's- own good time. 

If, when young people come to years of maturity, 
and are ready to make a home of their own, they will 
begin this new life with the full determination to ac- 



44 LETTERS FROM FLORIDA. 

cept these duties as they rise, and, confident in their 
Father's wisdom, endeavor to perform them faith- 
fully, they will soon learn how full of choicest bless- 
ings, waiting to be garnered all along the unknown, 
untried way, is a life of diligent courageous effort. 

The young are often perplexed with unforeseen 
obstacles and discouragements at the very threshold 
of their new and independent life. Their perplexities 
frequently spring from the attempt to build up their 
own future on the old foundations which their fathers 
laid. These were doubtless wisely planned, and well 
adapted to the period when their ancestors began the 
work ; and, under the then existing circumstances, no 
doubt the best that could have been devised. But, as 
years roll on, many changes incident to a rapidly 
growing population unfolded better ways, and gradu- 
ally made the old ways distasteful and irksome. This 
becoming more and more evident, and the growing 
discontent and loss of faith in the old-time methods 
becoming burdensome, it would be wise for young 
people to relinquish the idea of settling close by large 
towns and cities, unless their bank accounts are heavy 
and their prospects of success are past a doubt. It is 
ruinous to remain in familiar localities, hampered by 
the old methods, endeavoring to force their way, till 
all they possess is wasted in the useless struggle to 
find a firm and permanent foothold. 

Let the young folks, therefore, who have little 
but their own strong hands and well-cultured brains 
to depend on, leave the old places that only rich men 
can keep in a productive condition, and go forth to 



WHAT HAS BEEN DONE. 45 

create a home in newer lands, where intelligent labor, 
stanch integrity, and the unselfish desire to do good 
*to all around them will make their presence a blessing, 
and insure themselves an honorable position and 
influence. By acting under such incentives, their 
good influence may remain to comfort and strengthen 
others long after these pioneers have gone to receive 
the joyful " Well done, good and faithful servant." 
For all who are ready thus to begin an independent 
life, and establish their future from the foundations, 
there is no place within my knowledge where this 
can be so easily, rapidly, and successfully accom- 
plished as in this State. 

I promised you some examples of what I know 
has been done here, and can be done again. I have 
told you what improvements a sick and feeble old 
njan had wrought in a few years on an old and miser- 
ably dilapidated plantation, and will now attempt to ex- 
plain what younger and more robust men can do in new 
lands, when undaunted by such hardships as must in- 
evitably be met by pioneers in every new undertaking. 

About seven years since three brothers left their 
Northern home on a prospecting tour through Florida, 
intending, if suited, to " enter a homestead " and pre- 
pare a comfortable home for their parents and sister 
as rapidly as possible. After visiting many localities, 
they selected a quarter section of Government land 
near Little Lake George, through which the St. John's 
River runs. These young men had not been accus- 
tomed to farming or the use of carpenter's tools, nor 
were they familiar with any of those kinds of labor 



46 LETTERS FKOM FLORIDA. 

necessary to carry out their plans. But they took 
with them a chest of tools, well stocked with all that 
might be needed, and a good supply of farming uten- 
sils. All this shows that they were smart, intelligent, 
hopeful, and courageous young men. None other 
should or would venture on such an experiment. 

After the locality was decided upon, their first 
work was to build a log house for their own shelter. 
This was easily done. Then several acres were cleared, 
fenced in, and a large number of sour-orange stumj)s 
set out to be ready for grafting the next spring, or 
when the roots were well established ; and beside these 
a large quantity of sweet-orange seeds were planted, 
to start a seedling grove. This is an important con- 
sideration for all new-comers, as these young groves 
should be growing while the owners are giving time 
and attention to immediately necessary work. The 
grass started, corn, sweet and Irish potatoes, and other 
important crops were then planted, to be ready for 
early use when those anxiously waiting at the North 
should come to them. 

Having labored to get all these things safely under 
way, and in a prosperous condition, the next step was 
to build a more comfortable and commodious dwelling, 
and make everything about the place as home-like and 
attractive as possible for the parents and sister. Un- 
deterred by lack of mechanical knowledge, and deter- 
mined as far as possible to supply this want by good 
common sense, and that skill which is born of perse- 
vering efforts, they prepared a plan of a house, which 
they developed with most encouraging success ; and 



WHAT HAS BEEN DONE. 4,7 

rapidly, under their united efforts, rose as neat and 
convenient a cottage as could be desired. A broad 
hall the whole length of the house, a pleasant parlor, 
a comfortable dining-room, and six bedrooms gave am- 
ple accommodations for .the whole family and a gener- 
ous provision for guests. 

In accordance with the Southern custom (a most 
sensible arrangement, and one which would add great- 
ly to the comfort of any family), the kitchen, store- 
rooms, and servants' room were built separate from the 
house, but connected by a latticed veranda, with a roof 
to protect from sun and rain ; and thus all cooking 
fumes were kept away from the house. The molding 
and fine work, it is true, were not finished by an ac- 
complished carpenter ; but I spent some days, a short 
time since, with this most kind and hospitable family, 
and could be well content to spend my days in as neat 
and comfortable a dwelling. 

When all was arranged, the rest of the family 
joined those who had so speedily and energetically 
prepared a home for them in the midst of the forest. 
Before leaving the North, the sister sold her piano, 
and invested the money in dry goods and groceries ; 
and on reaching her Southern home, the log house 
that had been the brothers' abode was enlarged and 
suitably fitted up for a store, of which the young lady 
had the sole charge. 

Now, at the close of seven years, this family have 
a pretty property and a comfortable home, which, 
they are constantly improving. A large part of their 
orange-trees are mostly sweet seedlings, which, until 



48 LETTERS FROM FLORIDA. 

within a short time, it was supposed could never come 
into hearing for eight or ten years ; hut they are 
thought to he safer in case of frost than the grafted 
sour stump. Later experience, however, proves that, 
hy grafting the sweet seedlings, they can he hrought 
into bearing almost if not quite as early as the sour 
stump — that is to say, when between four and five 
years old. This enterprising family have now a large 
number of orange, lemon, guava, and fig trees, as well 
as a choice collection of grapes, and raise successfully 
cotton, sugar, corn, melons, potatoes, and all needed 
vegetables for their own use as well as for sale. 

In all these years they have not paid one penny for 
hired help, but have done many days' work for others. 
Two of the sons, in addition to their home labor, 
superintend and do a large share of the work on two 
or three neighboring plantations, where they are con- 
sidered invaluable. With all this amount of hard 
labor and breaking up new land, which is usually 
thought unhealthy, they have been blessed with per- 
fect health, and have never employed a physician. 
Does any one need a better warrant for the healthi- 
ness of Florida ? 

This is only one example out of very many that 
have come under my own immediate observation, and 
is given to illustrate how liberally this beautiful land 
wdll recompense honest and intelligent labor, and what 
pleasant and comfortable homes she gives to those 
who trust her generosity. 

" But while waiting for newly planted orange- 
groves, and fruit-trees of every variety, to become 



WHAT HAS BEEN DONE. 49 

profitable, what are the prospects of support for the 
new settler during these five or six years ? " 

Amiyle. If one settles near some plantation owned 
by those whose business will not allow them to live 
on it, and can secure the superintendence of such a 
place, he is fortunate ; for the pioneer, who intends to 
live on his own land, can take charge of the stranger's 
plantation, and be paid in money, or half the crops he 
can raise on it, and at the same time push his own 
work forward. In this way he will secure a good 
support for his family till such time as his own 
grounds are cleared and planted. If no such place is 
near of access, he will not starve oi* suffer any hard 
deprivation. 

Every one on coming out should take such canned 
meats and vegetables as he can, and flour and vegeta- 
bles will be found within marketing distance to help 
through till the crops are well under way, and some 
ready for use. All kinds of vegetables that can be 
desired are easily raised. Florida beef and pork are 
proverbially poor, but it should not be so. A North- 
ern farmer would soon prove that good pork and beef 
are as possible here as at the North. But it takes 
time to bring about any desirable change, and till then 
our new-comers can easily be content with a poor 
quality. The experiment of using this a year or so 
will only make them more determined to introduce a 
better^quality as soon as they can. 

But there is no necessity of suffering from want, 
even with poor beef and pork, so long as the beautiful 
rivers and lakes abound with fish, and the woods are 
5 



50 LETTERS FROM FLORIDA. 

full of game. There was never a spot at the North 
where one can have chickens, ducks, and turkeys, and 
abundance of eggs, with very trifling effort, so plen- 
tifully as in this country. And until there is time 
to arrange a poultry house and yard on a large scale, 
what better food can any one desire than the deli- 
cious wild turkey, duck, partridges, quail, and any va- 
riety of small but most tempting birds, which are so 
easily trapped or snared ? And the venison ! Here 
the danger is that the excellence of the wild meats 
will tempt those who are in haste to bring their land 
into good condition, to delay the work of improving 
heef and pork^ or, except for the luxury of having 
milk in plenty, forgetting to care for their cows. 

" Do you think — although there may and must be 
some hardships to be encountered in taking the pre- 
liminary steps for a home here — do you think any 
need suffer from hunger, unless too lazy to open their 
mouths and receive the good things a bountiful Provi- 
dence provides ? " 

There are many fruits also that come to maturity 
earlier than the orange. The fig is a rapid grower, 
and as easily propagated as the currant, and begins to 
bear as early after well started. The fresh fruit will 
not bear transportation to the ISTorth, but it is a great 
comfort for those who raise it. Almost every hut or 
house, for black or white, has its fig-trees, if it have 
nothing more. When freshly gathered, the fruit is 
very healthy and nourishing, and none need be told 
what a luxury it is when properly dried or preserved. 
The guava is also a rapid grower, and the fresh fruit. 



WHAT HAS BEEN DONE. 51 

I am told, is very fine. The jelly and marmalade made 
from the guava needs no endorsement. 

Strawberries, if well cared for, are to be had from 
early winter till late spring, or, indeed, into summer. 
Blackberries (wild) are abundant, and so fine that to 
cultivate them would be a waste of time. I saw acres 
of ripening, wild blackberries in a neighboring planta- 
tion, and heard the proprietor give orders to an old 
colored " auntie " to pick one hundred quarts for a 
lady to preserve the next day. When the hundred 
quarts were gathered, none could tell by the looks of 
the bushes that any had been taken. The huckleberry 
abounds in the woods in every direction. The cassava 
root is easily raised, and is used boiled like a potato, 
or made into starch or into flour, from which various 
kinds of cakes are made. The peanut is also an easily 
raised and jDrofitable crop. And in the extreme south- 
ern part of Florida almost any kind of fruit that can 
be found in the tropics can be cultivated and made re- 
munerative. 

Time would fail to enumerate all the fruits, vege- 
tables, nuts, etc., that Florida will yield bountifully to 
those who accept her favors, and are ready to bring 
them forward with skill and industry ; but she has no 
promises for those who will not help themselves. 

In " entering a homestead," it is not wise to at- 
tempt to clear a large amount of land at first, or in 
clearing to cut down all the forest trees. Som'e of the 
forest trees should be preserved in clusters of six or 
eight, according to the character of the tree, both for 
beauty and to protect the young orange groves from 



52 LETTERS FROM FLORIDA. 

the wind, and from all danger of frost. There is 
seldom any frost, but occasionally a cold snap warns 
the orange-grower to be careful, and the experience of 
those who have groves well advanced is that those 
lands where all the trees are cut off suffer most, both 
from frost and winds. The land being thus exposed, 
the sun sucks up all the moisture that the young 
growth needs, and injures if not quite destroys it. 
It is sad to see large tracts of land, like a desert, with- 
out any shade-trees left, when the fields and crops 
would be so much benefited by them, aside from the 
great pleasure one derives from the grand and beauti- 
ful trees. The eagerness to get the land in a produc- 
tive state in the shortest possible time sometimes 
blinds the judgment. True, the growth of all things 
here is so rapid, that new trees from the old roots 
soon cover a cleared field if allowed to ; but nothing 
can replace the giant trees that for centuries have 
been the patriarchs of the forest. And added to the 
regret for their loss is also the thought that, if so 
little judgment is used in destroying the forests, it 
will not be long before the fuel now so plentiful will 
be greatly needed. 

A sensible man will clear only so much land as can 
be properly cultivated, set out as many oranges as the 
working force which he has on hand can hud or graft, 
and give all needed care ; then start a nursery by 
planting seeds. This done, the vegetables or other 
varieties of fruits will claim his care. 

But, as a homestead embraces one hundred and 
sixty acres, and only a small part of it should be under 



WHAT HAS BEEN DONE. 53 

cultivation — say fifteen to twenty acres — all these 
other acres must not be left profitless. 

Georgian cattle are a good investment. If one has 
a little money that can be spared, this gives good 
promise of returning it fourfold in a few months. 
These cattle are bought for five and six dollars a 
head. When brought to the homestead they may be 
fed for a day or two, and then " branded " and turned 
loose to range the woods belonging to the place, or, 
if they please, in miles of uncleared land. Bring 
them home at night a few times, throw a little corn 
into the inclosure, and they will soon learn to return 
from their wanderings every night of their own will. 
This is called coio-penning them ; and, after orange- 
trees attain a good growth, this " pen " should be 
around the trees, for cattle thus penned every night 
are of great benefit in enriching the ground, and will 
bring forward the trees faster than any other mode 
of fertilizing and will do no harm to the trees. In 
the fall these cattle, having become quite fat on the 
wild grass in the woods, can be sold for twenty or 
thirty dollars a head. 

You have given me an exhausting theme, and 
where to find a stopping-place it is diflicult to tell. I 
meant to have finished in this letter, a^nd to have told 
you of this old settlement at Rollestown, and of sev- 
eral other places, of the Medicinal Springs, etc., etc., 
but will try and bring all I wish to say — no, that 
would not be possible — but all that I can not refrain 
from saying, into my next letter. 



vW' 




WHAT HAVE YOU TO SAY ABOUT 
MALARIAL FEVERS ? 

Last year, on my way to Flor- 
ida by the good steamer City 
of Dallas, I was as much 
interested in one of the lady 
passengers as a rough pas- 
sage and a full allowance .of genu- 
ine seasickness would permit. Her 
lover, like a sensible man, had 
some months before preceded her, 
to select land in Florida, and make 
the best provision for his bride that 
could be expected in the early days 
of a pioneer's life. When he had so far progressed 
in his work as to secure a comfortable shelter, the 
lady, equally sensible, did not require him to waste 
time and money to come for her, but, sure of good 






MALARIAL FEVERS. 55 

care and all needed attentions from Captain Hines, 
and every comfort that he had power to provide, she 
came without any escort to meet her lover at Jack- 
sonville. Here she was married in a simple, quiet 
manner, and left that same evening for her new home. 

Some few months since I received a letter from 
this lady, from which I had intended to copy largely, 
as an excellent corroboration of my own ideas of what 
willing hands and courageous hearts may hope for, 
if they are led to make a home in Florida. But I 
have lost the letter, and regret it all the more, as I 
had planned to visit this lady, as requested, and be 
able to compare a pioneer's life in Florida with my 
own experience of early Western life. I can now 
recall neither her new name nor her location ; but 
somewhere not very far above Little Lake George, 
she found a comfortable log cabin, or house, ready for 
her. She told me the number of acres her husband 
had already cleared and planted. The orange seed- 
lings were just starting, and " sour stumps " for graft- 
ing were set out and thriving. She spoke of the quiet 
pleasures of her simple housekeeping — the flowers 
brought from the North, that were vicing in beauty 
with the wild plants and vines she had transplanted 
to brighten and beautify her rustic home, with an 
earnestness that proved her a fit wife for an enterpris- 
ing pioneer. 

Her chickens and other poultry were also a source 
of great pride to her, and deservedly, as she had been 
very successful in rearing them, and even in this short 
time had quite a flock. Chickens, eggs, and the 



56 LETTERS FROM FLORIDA. 

canned meats and fruits she brought from the North, 
were an important item now, while everything was in 
a formative state. To be sure, her husband occasion- 
ally brought in game, but had little time for hunting 
while his trees and crops were needing constant care. 
But this wife was strong and fearless, and in early 
girlhood had learned to handle the oars expertly — a 
good thing for every young lady to understand. 
There may come a time when not only her own life, 
but that of many others, may depend on her knowl- 
edge of this accomplishment. After the morning 
work was over indoors, this lady either worked in the 
garden near her husband, or, before the sun was too 
powerful, launched her boat and went alone on to the 
beautiful lake, to provide a fine fish, fresh from the 
water, for their dinner. 

Before leaving the ]!^orth, she had furnished her- 
self bountifully with a good supply of choice reading, 
and, when needing rest, enjoyed them while swinging 
in her hammock under the grand old trees that sur- 
round the little house, now fast blossoming into beauty ; 
while several well-cleared fields near by already mani- 
fested the marvelous power of industry intelligently 
applied. In the evenings her husband read to her, 
when she was busy with her needle. 

The letter Avas so fresh and evidently truthful, 
that I longed to roll back the wheels of time and be- 
gin life anew, in a land so rich in resources, and so 
bountiful in repaying the labor bestowed upon it. 

Another lady, bound for Florida, was also with us 
during this same voyage — a married lady, with two 



MALAKIAL FEVERS. 57 

little children, one a babe in the arms, the other six 
or seven years old. She had come, with no escort, 
from beyond Chicago, I think, and was going some- 
where near Smyrna, on the Indian River. Her hus- 
band and son had been there some months, clearing 
the land and building the house that was soon to re- 
ceive her and her weary little ones. She talked as if 
she was well posted in all the hardships and many in- 
conveniences she would probably encounter. A slight, 
pale woman, but in nowise disheartened after the 
storm and seasickness were over. Her husband had 
wisely kept her thoroughly informed of all he had ex- 
perienced, and what she might expect, and his descrip- 
tion of the country and climate disarmed the new life 
of all terrors. 

These are. the right kind of men and women to 
make Florida all she can and should be. 

" But what about the sickly summers, the malarial 
fevers ? Is there nothing to be feared from this 
source ? " 

Certainly. Where will you find a spot in which 
one can not conjure up all sorts of terrors, if he pre- 
fers to live in perpetual fear of what may happen ? 
There is almost as much to feed such weakness as 
may be found in any country. But why not inquire 
about the " chills," congestive, typhoid, and the other 
varieties of fever — of the acute diseases, pleurisy, 
pneumonia, diphtheria, and a multitude of ailments, 
seldom if ever known in Florida, but of daily occur- 
rence in New York and Brooklyn — all along the banks 
of the lovely Hudson and Connecticut, and other riv- 



58 LETTERS FROM FLORIDA. 

ers — or wherever a new railroad is being built, or a 
public park in the first stages of construction and 
excavation — even up among the frosts and snows of 
the White Mountains ? These afilictions, of daily oc- 
currence throughout our country, are not supposed to 
be sufficient to deter people from settling North, East, 
or West, any more than the record of fearful crimes 
constantly committed in all large cities, or the re- 
proaches, insinuations, bad temper, and violence, so 
common with both parties in times of political excite- 
ment, scare people from seeking a home in our cities. 

But if Florida, or the South generally, catches the 
echo of political recrimination, and answers back in 
the same unchristian tone, that " is awful wicked ! " 
Yes, it is wicked, JSforth or South. But we have not 
seen or heard half as much here of political or climatic 
malaria as is transpiring weekly at the North. The 
cause or remedy of the first it is not our business to give, 
but there are a few things to be said of the latter. 

Those who will be careless about unprotected 
exposure to the early morning air before eating, or 
before the sun is fully up, almost anywhere, and espe- 
cially where there are river fogs, will be likely to 
find a fever of some kind close by. I don't think 
many of the present generation in our cities will suf- 
fer much from any exposure before sic?irise. But our 
new settlers can not allow the sun to find them napping. 
If a cup. of hot tea or coffee, or a little bread and but- 
ter, is taken before going out, then we should feel no 
fear of any harm from the morning air anywhere. 

Careless exposure to night air — tempted by a beau- 



MALARIAL FEVERS. 59 

tiful moon and pleasant company, a moonlight sail, 
night-bunting or fishing — is not safe, unless well pro- 
tected with extra wraps, even on a summer's evening, 
in any country or clime that I Jcnoio of. 

The greatest danger will be found while the for- 
ests are cleared from new lands, and the new fields 
plowed for the first time after warm summer weather 
sets in. This, also, holds good anywhere. North or 
South, wherever woodland is broken up for cultiva- 
tion. Do we not find chills, malarial fevers, etc., follow 
closely after every new railroad or park that is made ? 
For this reason it is much better to have the land 
cleared and exposed to the sun early in the fall, in 
cool or cold weather. If possible, a temporary dwell- 
ing should be obtained at some little distance from 
where the clearing is going on, until the sun and 
air dispel the unhealthy dampness that must rise for 
some weeks, while the newly-turned earth is becoming 
" ripe " and sweet, and bogs and morasses have been 
well drained. If this is done, it is perfectly safe to 
prepare the dwelling and commence the true home 
life. 

If there are no buildings near to take shelter in, 
the new-comers must run the risk, but take every pre- 
caution possible, and protect the body with suitable 
changes both in the morning and evening. Keep 
on hand always some light brushwood, and start an 
open fire the moment one is out of bed in the morn- 
ing (only a bright, quick blaze), and it will prove a 
great protection from malaria in old or new land ; 
and this should be done if there is any fog or 



60 LETTERS FROM FLORIDA. 

dampness, even in the hottest days of July, not in 
Florida alone, but everywhere, in old or new settle- 
ments. 

In short, I don't believe that there is any more 
danger from malarial fevers in Florida (and that is 
about all the sickness that there is ever here) than 
in any State in the Union where woodland is being 
cleared, or old pastures and mowing-lots ripped up by 
the plow and the under-earth brought to the sur- 
face, or where muck is drawn from swamps or river- 
beds and piled near dwellings, to ripen for compost. 
I know, in the wonderful healthy town of Peekskill, 
New York State, muck was dug out of a swamp some 
years ago, and piled up to drain and sweeten before 
hauling up to the farm ; and the family nearest to 
the swamp complained that they all had, or were 
threatened with, chills and fever in consequence. It 
cost the owner of the swamp one hundred dollars to 
stop that malaria. Strange what medicinal power can, 
when convenient, be found in one hundred dollars ! 
And all along the lowlands on the banks of the Hudson, 
or wherever a new railroad is begun, chills and fever are 
prevalent, and to be expected as a matter of course. 
But this does not necessarily make that State or coun- 
try where they occur unsafe or dangerously unhealthy. 
Chills and fevers are not desirable companions ; I have 
had a thorough knowledge of them ; but they are not 
half so unsafe as many diseases that are very common 
at the North. 

" Well, you don't seem willing to give Florida all 
the fevers and malarial troubles, but you will not deny 



MALARIAL FEVERS. 01 

that poisonous snakes and dangerous animals abound 
there ? " 

Oh, no, I will not deny that they are found in 
Florida {abound is rather too strong a word) ; but I 
must ^remind you that this is the natural order of 
things everywhere, until man cuts down the forests, 
drains the swamps, and brings the earth into subjec- 
tion to his skill. It is not peculiar to one State or 
country, but to all that are densely wooded and sj)arse- 
ly settled. 

The moccasin and rattlesnake are not so attractive 
and amiable that one would desire them for household 
pets, but they are no more deadly in Florida than else- 
where ; and you know they are found occasionally in 
almost all localities. I knew and heard very little 
about them when here. It was only after returning 
home that the fearful dangers I had escaped were re- 
vealed. I have seen but one moccasin, and not one 
rattlesnake, except in a cage. The colored people, 
who would be the most likely to know the worst that 
is to be told of them, appear to give themselves no 
uneasiness about the serpents or animals that are sup- 
posed to make traveling, or walking in the forest, unsafe. 

" Aunt Kitty," who for years has done the family 

washing where I am, walks two miles through the 

woods every Monday to come here, and after dark 

returns alone, but says she has never been molested, 

and has no fears. She would not like to come upon a 

rattlesnake unawares, but thinks a little caution is all 

that is needed. 

The first year I was in Florida, on the St. Mark's, 
6 



62 LETTERS FROM FLORIDA. 

an opossum was caught in the night, making trouble 
in the hen-house. The next morning a little, bright- 
eyed colored boy, of eight or nine years, lay on his 
back watching the animal, who was confined to a 
stake in the yard. 

" Well, Smart, did you ever see a 'possum before ? " 

" Oh, 'es 'em." 

" What do you do when you find them ? " 

"I'ze kills 'em." 

" Did you ever see a coon ? " 

" Oh, 'es 'em." 

" Well, what do you do with thetyi f " 

" I^ze leaves!^'' 

"Did you ever come across a moccasin in the 
woods ? " 

" 'Es em." 

" What do you do then ? " 

" I'ze kills 'era," said he, with a merry laugh. 

" Did you ever meet a rattlesnake ? " 

"'Es'em." 

" What do you do then, my boy ? " 

" I'ze leaves quick ! " 

Mosquitoes are no worse here than in large cities 
North, but ice are told they are more troublesome still 
farther South. It may be so. I have been annoyed 
by the black or sand fly here, but no more than I am 
every fall when at the White Mountains. They are 
very provoking and annoying, however, and we have 
not one word to say in their behalf. They are a nui- 
sance wherever found, but the comfort is that their 
time is short. 



MALARIAL FEVERS. 63 

Do not think I am only giving you one-sided state- 
ments. I would not have you think that I imagine 
Florida the very Garden of Eden before the fall, with 
the serpent and all other disagreeable things left out. 
Not so at all. I only wish you to see it as it is, with 
many faults, many drawbacks, that prevent perfec- 
tion ; but none of them in a worse or more aggravated 
form than is common to all lands, and very few that 
skill and labor cannot remove entirely. 

Please to bear this in mind, and remember also that 
there are, for the sick, the feeble, and the poor, hopes 
and comforts that our dear but less genial North can 
not offer. Here is cheaper land, no frost or cold at any 
season of the year to prevent outdoor labor, and the 
soil and seasons both able to give two or three remu- 
nerative crops a year, aside from the luxury of almost 
every variety of tropical fruits. The obstacles that 
must be annoying to every new settler are such as 
will of necessity be found in every spot where man 
begins to reclaim primeval forests, and turn them into 
productive fields and comfortable homes. 

No sensible persons will come to " enter " new lands 
here, with the intention of making it a permanent 
home, without being prepared to feel the loss of many 
of the comforts and privileges that they have been 
accustomed to from childhood — the circle of friends 
that have grown up with them, the church relations, 
and, if they have children, the lack of schools and 
seminaries. In counting the cost, all these must be 
added to the amount, and the legitimate effect of this 
important calculation should be to strengthen their 



64 LETTERS FKOM FLORIDA. 

determination to give time and thought toward build- 
ing up and sustaining everything that tends toward 
moral and religious strength, as well as to cultivate 
and improve the soil. 

But one who settles here must remember that there 
will naturally be more discomforts and perplexities 
the first year than in succeeding years. The promise 
is surer here than in many other new places, that the 
wilderness can be made to bud and blossom like the 
rose ; but, as I have somewhere heard the remark, 
" this can not be done in a day or a year. You can sit 
under your own vine and fig-tree, with none to molest 
or make you afraid ; but the vine and the fig must 
first be planted, matured, and tended." 

In this united labor of improving and cultivating 
Florida, I believe that the old prejudices between the 
North and the South will wear away, and a common 
interest be established, by which each will employ 
their best faculties to accomplish the desired work. 
Each will bring to the work their own individual im- 
provements and excellences, until the two, harmoni- 
ously laboring for the same end, will have put in prac- 
tice the best, most rapid, and reliable modes of de- 
veloping the naturally rich and wonderful resources 
of this State. 

Many vegetables and greens that hitherto have not 
been thought capable of culture will yet be success- 
fully raised here ; and implements that it has been 
thought could not be used in Southern culture will be 
found, on trial, of invaluable service. 

There is one other comfort that I would be glad to 



MALARIAL FEVERS. 65 

see more extensively used, and which those who come 
here in straitened circumstances should be sure to in- 
troduce : I would like to see the goat raised more ex- 
tensively. The stock of cattle is for the present very 
inferior, and "poor Florida beef" is a common ex- 
pression. Of course, this being true, a sufficient sup- 
ply of milk will also be very difficult to secure at first, 
from poor cows. It will soon be seen that there are 
many kinds of grass that can by cultivation be raised 
here, and a better food be given to the cattle. In re- 
turn, they will give better and more abundant milk. 
But it will take some years to succeed in this, and, till 
accomplished, the goat will be an excellent substitute. 

This animal can be raised in Florida with no care 
or trouble, or so little as not to be noticed. Goats 
are easily, kept ; the waste from the kitchens will be 
much more pleasantly and serviceably used for them, 
than in raising swine. Their milk is the richest and 
most nutritious of any animal, and, if tethered, so as 
not to browse on every coarse and disagreeable shrub, 
it can be had entirely free from the strong flavor that 
is so offensive. No poor man should attempt to tide 
over the two or three first years in Florida w^ithout a 
small herd of goats, or two or three at least. The 
flesh of the kid is said to be very delicate. A few 
goats can be bought for a small price, and will add 
greatly to the comfort of a pioneer's family. 

The. milk and flesh is of great value for invalids. 
No hotel in Florida should be without them for those 
who come here for health; and aside from that, with 
a little care and skill, they may be made exceedingly 



QQ LETTERS FROM FLORIDA. 

remunerative ; for the finest of the Thibet and Asiatic 
goats can be raised here, and their long silken fleeces 
sell for a high price. 

You have, I fear, had more of Florida than you 
will find interest in ; but I will trouble you with only 
one more letter, if I can help it. The theme is to me 
of great interest ; and the longer I think of it, the 
broader it stretches out before me and tempts me on. 

I would like to tell you a little of one place where 
I have lately visited, and where I expect to be when I 
write next, and will then trouble you no further, per- 
haps. 



LETTER VI. 



SEEK THE TEUTH IN PRIVATE HOMES, NOT IN HOTEL 

LIFE. 



From public docu- 
ments and through cur- 
rent reports I have 
gathered many inter- 
esting items Avhich ap- 
pear reliable, and had 
hoped to add to my 
stock of information 
, something that would 
have pleased you from the 
interior parts of Florida. We 
had planned a little excur- 
sion, taking the Transit Rail- 
road from Fernandina to Ce- 



1 \.' •/" 







dar Keys. The lakes 
on either side of this 
road are said to be 
very beautiful, and 



68 LETTERS FROM FLORIDA. 

the surrounding country around Lake Santa Fe, Samp- 
son, and Kingsley, is high land, or " bluffs " — fertile, 
not foggy and damp, and very salubrious and delight- 
ful. Having dreamed over these pleasant descriptions, 
I was quite eager to see with my own eyes, and test the 
truth of what I had heard. But " the best-laid schemes 
of mice and men gang aft agley ; " and on reaching 
Baldwin, the morning trains had just been discontinued 
for the season, and by this change I should be subject 
to many delays and inconveniences. So that pleasure 
must be laid aside for another winter ; and, before 
speaking of Rollestown, permit a few words which 
should have been added to the last letter. 

Letters requesting more minute particulars about 
Florida are received daily ; and I am therefore more 
than ever anxious to give no false impressions, but 
would avoid the injury done by those who, on tran- 
sient visits, publish " overwrought, visionary letters." 
In their enthusiasm they are tempted to paint only the 
brightest side of the picture, overlooking the real, 
practical, stubborn facts in the case, which those who 
come every winter, or have become residents, see and 
fully understand. 

I have endeavored not to err in that direction, and 
honestly do not think I have. It is not Florida as 
she now is, but what I truly believe she can be made, 
that I have endeavored to show ; and, with her natu- 
ral advantages of soil and climate, this change can be 
effected much more readily than in most new lands. 

Of course, I take it for granted that the readers' 
good sense will teach them that the work which must 



SEEK THE TRUTH IN PRIVATE HOMES. 69 

be done to secure good results can not be accomplished 
without some hardship and much self-denial. How 
severely either of these may press upon the new settler 
will depend largely on the strength, energy, and natu- 
ral capacity of those who undertake the initiative 
labor. 

Florida is most truly a " new State," because, after 
incredible rebuffs and disasters, she is once again 
struggling to rise above the many obstacles that have 
so often well-nigh destroyed her. She has been tossed 
about from one nation to another like a foot-ball ; but 
of her history we will speak presently. Just now we 
desire to make it plain that here, as elsewhere, Jirst 
steps are always surrounded with hardships, and often 
— like a little child learning to walk — one rises for a 
moment, but to fall again, and so on, till the way be- 
comes familiar and easy. 

" The hardy pioneer, who forces his way into the 
wilds of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and other parts of 
our Western States, will tell you that when one decides 
to locate in new or wild lands and begins to reclaim 
them, he must make up his mind that for two or three 
years a rough life, with many inconveniences and hard- 
ships, chill or ague, and other ailments, are before him ; 
that it is a close fight, a sturdy determination to grap- 
ple with and subdue the wilderness ; " but he must 
bear in mind and take courage from the knowledge 
that, having conquered, the reward is close at hand. 
It is strange that so many people who are really sensi- 
ble in most things, making the attempt to settle here 
or elsewhere, are entirely ignorant of this. They come 



70 LETTERS FROM FLORIDA. 

expecting to find Florida " one vast flower-garden or 
orange-grove by nature, needing no labor or cultiva- 
tion," and that, without a Joshua to lead, they have 
but to pass over and possess the promised land, and at 
once, without any exertion on their part, sit down 
under their own vine and fig-tree, with none to molest 
or make tliem afraid. But " the truth is, this lovely 
land is but a wilderness as yet, and those who would 
have the garden and the grove, must come and rtiake 

" Is Florida a healthy State ? " is a frequent ques- 
tion. 

" The sanitary reports of the army show a much 
greater degree of health among the soldiers in Florida 
during the late war, and previously among the troops 
stationed here, than in any other section of the Union ; 
and the prevailing disease, intermittent fever, is of a 
much less virulent type than in most new countries. 
This does not prove, however, that there is no sickness 
here. There certainly is ; but it is also perfectly true 
that the healthfulness of Florida is fully equal to that 
of any other State in our Union." 

I have quoted from the best authority ; but there 
is one point not mentioned, so far as I have been able 
to learn, in a?iy report, but which I think it but com- 
mon justice to refer to ; for it touches on an objection 
often made against coming here for health or with any 
hope of retaining and securing what one has. 

I can better illustrate my meaning by putting into 
shape conversations that one often hears when going 
up and down the St. John's River, or crossing over to 



SEEK THE TRUTH IN PRIVATE HOMES. Yl 

Jacksonville, where friends and acquaintances have 
met unexpectedly. Now and then one finds some dis- 
satisfied or discontented mortals, who have been but 
a very short time in Florida, hurrying back North as 
if some pestilence were behind them. In such cases 
something like the following conversation may be 
heard : 

" Why, my dear sir, you are wild to return North 
so early. Your family, if not yourself, will suffer in 
consequence if you go North before the 1st of May. 
The cold, raw days, of which we always have so many 
at the North till after the 20th of May, will be very 
injurious." 

" Oh, I've made up my mind that coming to Florida 
for health is all nonsense." 

" But," interrupts his friend, " you haven't been 
here long enough to know anything about this coun- 
try or climate." 

" Well, I think that by spending a day or two 
in each of the best hotels, or a week or two traveling 
in steamer or railroad, one can form a pretty correct 
idea of the country and the character of the climate. 
I, for one, have had all the experience I care for. If 
this is considered a climate to grow strong and sound 
in, or the people one meets are specimens of the effect 
of the climate upon the constitution, then Heaven help 
us ! I never saw so many miserable, sallow, sickly, 
consumptive-looking people in the same length of 
time in my life as I have in the short tim.e I have been 
in Florida. I am sick of the sights I see here. All 
the beauty — and I concede that there is a great deal — 



72 LETTERS FROM FLORIDA. 

can not compensate for the suffering which such for- 
lorn-looking people must have endured. I feel as if I 
was in a vast lazaretto — feeble steps, hectic flushes, 
coughs that rack the body and seem to threaten in- 
stant death, rheumatism that cripples and distorts. I 
tell you I am sick of it all, and shall hurry back and 
risk the inclemency of the North, rather than remain 
another week." 

" Why, my friend, you are getting excited. Re- 
flect for one moment, and you will understand your 
mistake. Have you seen much of the people who 
belong here, or of those from the North and West 
who have settled here and make Florida their home ? " 

" Oh, no ; I have made no acquaintances, and have 
seen only those who board for the winter at the hotels, 
or are met with in excursions up and down the river. 
I think that is quite suflicient to judge from, and I 
tell you I am disappointed and disgusted." 

" And from what section of the country have these 
friends and acquaintances come ? " 

" Oh, from everywhere, I think — North, East, 
West — and to my surprise I have found many from 
the Old Country wandering about here." 

" So, then, it seems it is the North, West, and 
East, and the countries from beyond the sea, that 
have poured all their sick into Florida to seek for 
health. It is not the sick of Florida at all, but the 
blind, halt, and maimed from other portions of the 
land — those half dying in colder regions, sent here as 
a last resort — that make you so bitter against the 
physician to whom they come for relief — often too 



SEEK THE TRUTH IN PRIVATE HOMES. ^3 

late — when all others have failed, and they know not 
what else to do." 

No estimate that has the first semblance of truth 
or justice can possibly be made of the character of 
a people or the healthfulness of the climate of any 
state or country, if such knowledge is only gained 
from watching the transient occupants of fashionable 
hotels, or the multitudes who rush over the land from 
all parts of the world by steamer or railroad. 

To form a just estimate, one should endeavor to find 
board in some neat and pleasant family (and such can 
be found without difficulty in many portions of this 
State), who have built up a home here. Select a family, 
if possible, who have been long enough here to be com- 
fortably, but not luxuriously, settled. See what they 
have accomplished. Learn what brought them here, in 
what state of health they or some members of their fam- 
ily were when they came, and compare it with their 
present condition. This is the only honest and correct 
way of learning the truth. But let no one go back 
North to spread a report — honestly believed, no doubt 
— that Florida is a lazar-house, until, leaving hotel life, 
they explore in that direction which shall teach them 
to understand the country and its climate better. Ho- 
tel life, all over our land or in any country, is the 
worst phase from which to form a just estimate of 
character or climate. Hotels are usually occupied by 
transient guests, flitting hither and thither, either for 
business or pleasure, or, as invalids, imperfectly try- 
ing all things, but holding fast to none. 

I have dwelt on this longer than I intended, but 

n 



74: LETTERS FROM FLORIDA. 

feel it important, as well as just, that Florida should 
not be compelled to own all the invalids that visit her 
shores. When you hear of sickness and death in 
Florida, before you make out the estimate, just inquire, 
from what section of the country these unfortunates 
came, or if they claim this State as their home. 

Colton's township map of Florida locates all the 
smaller towns or villages which are springing up along 
the banks of the St. John's ; and among them you will 
find RoUestown, about three miles from Palatka and 
two from San Mateo. It is on a bluff, or high land, 
and capable of being made exceedingly beautiful. 
About five thousand acres of this point is owned by 
two brothers, and on the bank of the river they are 
cultivating the orange-tree with unusual promise of 
success. 

"In 1765 Denis Rolle, Esq., father of Lord Rolle 
of England, obtained from the King a grant of forty 
thousand acres, and embarked with one hundred fami- 
lies, intending to settle in Middle Florida, near the 
St. Mark's River, but was driven by stress of weather 
into the St. John's River, and, wearied with a long 
voyage, decided to remain, and selected his location, 
from about three miles above Palatka, nearly up to 
Denis Lake." 

Here he built his own mansion and tenements for 
the people he brought over to cultivate his land, in- 
tending to raise corn, cotton, and indigo, the last be- 
ing a very profitable article of merchandise. 

This place has natural advantages surpassed by 
very few on the St. John's. On September 1, 1766, 



SEEK THE TRUTH IN PRIVATE HOMES. 75 

Rolle writes of it : " Everything in nature seems to 
correspond toward the cultivation of the productions 
of the whole world, in some part or other of this 
happy province — the most precious jewel in his Maj- 
esty's Americati dominions" 

" The exports of this province of East Florida in- 
creased rapidly, the Florida indigo bringing the high- 
est price in England, and everything indicated increas- 
ing prosperity and much pleasure ; but then began a 
troublous time. The Spanish force got possession, but 
were surprised and routed a short time after ; then 
the Indians became aggressive. The Spanish army 
again succeeded in gaining possession of a large part 
of Florida, giving the English people eighteen months 
either to remove with their property, or dispose of 
their effects, or accept Spanish rule and the Catho- 
lic faith." "Upon these homes, embowered among 
the orange-groves and made pleasant by the fragrant- 
blossoms of the honeysuckle, the rose and acacia, in a 
land where Nature had lavished her choicest beauties 
and created a perpetual summer, the unfortunate resi- 
dents of Florida were obliged to turn their backs for 
ever." 

But since that period Florida has changed hands 
many times — ceded by the English to Spain in part, 
then again under English rule, then in part to France ; 
back once more to Spain. At length, in 1821, this 
fair land of Florida became a part of these United 
States. But all along the banks of the beautiful 
rivers relics of the olden times may be f6und at 
almost every settlement. 



76 LETTERS FROM FLORIDA. 

At E-ollestown, part of the old foundations of 
Rolle's mansion were used only a few weeks since as 
the foundation of the present cottage where I now 
write, and I have picked up the glazed bricks that 
were used in building the houses for his tenantry. 
The old earthworks and rifle-pits built to protect 
them from the Indians are still to be seen here. 

But, as you see, this is an endless theme. I had 
intended to speak of the medicinal springs that abound 
in almost every portion of Florida, and other objects 
of great interest — at least, I find them so ; but there 
must be a stopping-place somewhere, and it may as 
well be here. I would gladly have made these letters 
more interesting ; all that is lacking must be attribu- 
ted to the writer. The theme has all that the greatest 
senius can desire ; but " what is writ, is writ. Would 
it were worthier ! " 






r ■ r 

/f '.7,5 j*A 

{''■■•:■/.,■ ■:^i-,< 







APPENDIX. 



ORANGE-GROWma IW FLORIDA, 

A coERESPONDENT of the Louisville "Courier- 
Journal " says : 

" There are many errors afloat about Florida. Some 
suppose the orange belt covers the State. Orange cul- 
ture is not safe north of the twenty-ninth parallel, 
and better south of the twenty-eighth. The sweet 
orange-tree will not grow in wet land any more than 
the apple-tree. The sour one is sometimes found in 
wet locations, and may be used in such places as a 
stock on which the sweet orange can be worked. But 
as the sour tree is a much slower grower, it must dwarf 
the sweet graft or perish beneath the superincumbent 
weight. No one who desires a permanent orchard of 
sweet trees would ever use a sour stock. The orange 
blooms in January and February, and a freeze at such 
times destroys fruit and trees. The northern coun- 
ties are subject to such frosts, and hence experience 
has taught the old settlers that orange-culture can not 
succeed in such a climate. Cold continued long enough 
to form ice of half an inch must destroy the unpro- 



80 APPENDIX. 

tected trees, and smaller ones succumb to a less de- 
gree of cold. The lemon and lime succumb to still 
less cold, and the guava is destroyed at the freezing 
point, if continued for a few hours. The whole class 
of the custard apples are equally tender. The banana 
and pineapple fail near the same point. A multitude 
of other fruits and trees fall with these last. 

" Another error one sees going the rounds of the 
papers is, that the orange will thrive under the native 
forest trees, and that it requires protection from the di- 
rect rays of the sun during summer. We know that 
the tree will not thrive in the shade of any tree unless 
it be the palmetto, which sends its feeding roots but 
a short distance. Few trees can endure a greater de- 
gree of sunshine than the orange, and it is used in 
some of the hottest portions of the world, as at Gua- 
naguato in Mexico, to shade the coffee plants. The 
* die-back ' is the effect of cold, not of sunshine — of 
want of proper nutriment, not of heat of the sun in 
summer. Our advice to the fruit-grower, then, is to 
get as far south on the peninsula of Florida as he can 
find dry land, and as near water communication as 
may be." 



REMARKABLE FOUNTAIN IN FLORIDA. 

Taking a narrow path, I crossed through some 
dense underwood, and all at once I stood on the banks 
of Wakulla Spring. There was a basin of water one 



APPENDIX. 81 

hundred yards in diameter, almost circular. The thick 
bushes were growing almost to the water's edge, and 
bowing their heads under its unrippled surface. I 
stepped into a skiff and pushed off. Some immense 
fishes attracted my attention, and I seized a spear to 
strike them. The boatman laughed, and asked me 
how far below the surface I supposed they were. I 
answered, about four feet. He assured me that they 
were at least twenty feet from me, and it was so. The 
water is of the most marvelous transparency. I dropped 
an ordinary pin in the water, forty feet deep, and saw 
its head with perfect distinctness as it lay on the bot- 
tom. As we approached the center, I noticed a jagged, 
grayish limestone rock beneath us, pierced with holes ; 
through these holes orfe seemed to look into unfathom- 
able depths. The boat moved slowly on, and now we 
hung trembling over the edge of the sunken cliff, and 
far below it lies a dark, yawning unfathomable abyss. 
From its gorge comes pouring forth, with immense 
velocity, a living river. Pushing on just below its 
mouth, I dropped a ten-cent piece into the water, 
which is there 190 feet in depth, and I clearly saw 
it shining on the bottom. This seems incredible. I 
think the water possesses a magnifying power. I am 
confident that the piece could not be so plainly seen 
from the top of a tower 190 feet high. We rowed on 
toward the north side, and suddenly we perceived the 
water, the fish which were darting hither and thither, 
the long flexible roots, and the wide, luxuriant grasses 
on the bottom, all arrayed in the most brilliant pris- 
matic hues. The gentle swell occasioned-by the boat 



82 APPENDIX 

gave to the whole an undulating motion. Death-like 
stillness reigned around, and a more fairy-like scene I 
never before beheld. So great is the quantity of water 
here poured forth, that it forms a river of itself large 
enough to float flatboats laden with cotton. The plant- 
er who lives here has thus transported his cotton to 
St. Mark's. Near the fountain we saw some of the 
remains of a mastodon which had been taken from it. 
The triangular bone below the knee measured six inches 
on each side. The Indian name of the fountain, Wa- 
kulla, means " The Mystery." It is said that the Span- 
ish discoverers sprang into it with almost frantic joy, 
supposing they had discovered the long-sought Foun- 
tain of Youth, which should rejuvenate them. — Cor- 
respondence of the JVeto York JEuening Post, 



PRODUCTS OF WESTERN FLORIDA. 

Editoes Western Rural : We promised you 
something of the productions of Florida. Let us be- 
gin by saying that oranges are not a product of West- 
ern Florida. All that region lying north of the Gulf 
of Mexico produces very little fruit of any kind. 
Peaches, plums, and Scuppernong grapes grow with 
care and cultivation. The peach does not thrive very 
well near the bay. There are no wild fruits except 
blackberries, and these are generally found in unap- 
proachable places. Grass is a universal product, and 



APPENDIX. 83 

yet grass for pasturage after July is only found in 
swales or marshes. The upland wire grass is as tough 
as manilla. Fenced pastures are not known, for the 
pasturage has to be sought. He who discovers a 
grass which will sward those sandy lands and remain 
eatable through the summer, will confer a boon upon 
the Southern States, The leaves of the cane afford 
the chief support for cattle during a large part of the 
year. In other words, cattle live by " browsing " a 
goodly portion of the year in the piney woods. Com 
is only grown upon prepared land, and then the crop 
is light — fifteen bushels to the acre being a good yield. 
Even sweet potatoes, although " to the manor born," 
require that the ground be fertilized. The same is 
true of all the vegetables. 

The land is prepared in the following manner : A 
strong fence is placed around a plot of ground, look- 
ing not unlike our " cattle corrals," and the stock are 
penned in these inclosures at night. It is called 
" treading the land," and the soil is probably bene- 
^ted by the treading as weW as fertilized. It will be 
perceived at once that but a limited quantity of land 
can thus be prepared. The list of vegetables pro- 
duced here is short. Irish potatoes are grown at al- 
most any season of the year, and new ones could be 
had every month if our Western straw piles were 
only at hand for a top dressing. Cabbages, such as 
usually sell in Chicago for forty cents per dozen, sell 
there for seventy-five cents each. 

Perhaps I can not better convey an idea of the 
country and its production than to describe the mar- 



84 APPENDIX. 

keting done at Millview during April, May, June, 
July, and August of the past summer. The market 
vehicles are mainly carts drawn by a single ox or 
horse (poor one), or dilapidated market wagons. The 
produce offered for sale was, in April, milkj butter- 
milk, Irish potatoes, greens, etc. In May it was much 
the same, with now and then a few cabbages and let- 
tuce. In June the products were increased by green 
* peas, plums, okra, corn, string beans, etc. The month 
of July gave us watermelons and peaches in addition 
to the above lists. Buttermilk finds a ready market. 
After selling their " stuff," the producers would repair 
to the store and lay in corn (grown in Illinois) for 
their working animals, meal for their families, tobac- 
co, etc. An astonishing amount of the latter is used 
by the natives of the South. If you decide that the 
above is a meager list of marketable products, we 
have only to add that it is a true one, as we saw what 
we have described with our own eyes during those 
months. 

The natural products of Florida and the piney^ 
wood generally through the Southern States are con- 
siderably diversified. The list of valuable woods is 
varied. The magnolia looks somewhat like our bass- 
wood. The blossom buds look just before flowering 
much like goose eggs on the limb ends. The flowers 
are exceedingly beautiful. The bay flower is as beau- 
tiful and as white, and more fragrant, but much small- 
er. There are many other varieties of wood, but the 
chief, the master of the situation, the great source 
of wealth and Southern industry, the source of the 



APPENDIX. 85 

pitch, tar, turpentine, lumber, spars, square timber, 
etc., the chief article of Gulf export, is the glorious 
Southern pine. There are two varieties, pitch and 
yellow. These stand like goblin sentries in thousands 
of square miles along the rivers entering the Atlantic 
and the Gulf westward to the Mississippi. The best 
paying industry of the South is its lumbering. It is 
the surest and quickest in returns. Reference to the 
census reports evidences that lumber is the great arti- 
cle of export, finding a market in Cuba and Europe, 
New York and Philadelphia. 

^y. H. G. 



THE END. 



X 



HISTORY OF OPINIONS 

ON THE 

SCRIPTURAL DOCTRINE OF RETRIBUTION. 

By EDWARD BEECHER, D. D., 

Author of " The Conflict of Ages." 

1 vol., 12mo. Cloth, $1.25. 



The momentous question of future retribution is here historically * 
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and language from the outset to the flays of Christ, then to inquire 
into the import of his words, in the light of all preceding ages ; and. 
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1 vol., 12mo. Cloth, $1.35. 



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PAGE, 



HUNT, 

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J. M. HART, 



SANFORD GIFFORD, McENTEE, 
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HICKS, 



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W. H. BEARD, 

PORTER, 

G. L. BROWN, 

APPLETON BROWN, 

CROPSEY, 

CASILEAE, 



WINSLOW HOMER, E. JOHNSON, 



W. T. RICHARDS, DE HAAS, 



T. MORAN, 

P. MORAN, 

PERRY, 

BELLOWS, 

SHATTUCK, 

MILLER, 

J. F. WEIR, 



J. G. BROWN, 

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WOOD, 

BRISTOL, 

REINHART, 

BRIDGMAN, 

BIERSTADT, 



HOPKINSON SMITH, 



SHIRLAW, 
CHASE, 
BRICHER, 
ROBBIXS, 
WILMARTH, 
EATON, 
GUY, 

QUARTLET, 
MEEKER. 



The publishers feel justified in saying that the contemporaneous art of 
no countr}' has ever been so adequately represented in a sinfrle volume as 
our American Painters are in this work, while the engravings are equal in 
execution to the finest examples of wood-engraving produced here or 
abroad. 



OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 



" The richest, and in many ways the most notable of fine art books 
is ' American Painters,' jus^t published, with unstinted liberality in 
the makinff. Eiijhty-three examples of the work of American ai-tissts, 
reproduced in the very best style of wood-engraving:, and pnnted with 
rare skill, constitute tlie chief purpose of the book; while the text 
which accompanies them, the work of Mr. Georgre W. Sheldon, is a 
series of bright and entertaining biographical sketches of the artists, 
with a running commentary— critical, but not too critical— upon the 
peculiarities of their several methods, purposes, and conceptions."— 
New York Evening Post. 

"The volume gives good evidence of the progress of American art. 
It shows that we have deft hands and imaginative brains among pain- 
ters of the country, and it shows, moreover, that we have publishers 
who are liberfiland cultured enough to present their works in a hand- 
some and luxurious form tiiat will make them acceptable. ' American 
Painters ' will adorn the table of many a drawinix-room where art is 
loved, and where it is made still dearer from the fact that it is native." 
—Neiv Ymk Express. 

" It is at once a biographical dictionary of artists, a gallery of pen 
portraits and of beautiful scenes, sketched by the painters and mul- 
tiplied bv the engraver. It is in all respects a work of art, and will 
meet tlie w^ints of a large class whose tastes are in that direction."— 
Neiv York Observer. 

" One of the most delightful volumes issued from the press of this 
country." — New York Daily Graphic. 

" Outside and inside it is a thing of beauty. The text is in large, 
clear type, the paper is of the finest, the mardns broad, and the il- 
lustrations printed with artistic care. The volume contains brief 
sketches of fifty prominent American artists, with examples from 
their works. Some idea of the time and labor expended in bringing 
out the work may be irathered from the fact that to bring it before the 
public in its present form cost the publishers over $1^,000."— jBos^o/i 
Evening Transcript. 

"■ This book is a notable one, and among the many fine art books it 
will rank as one of the choicest, and one of the most elegant, con- 
sidered as an ornament or phrlor decoration. The engravings are in 
the highest stvle known to art. Mr. Sheldon has accompanied the illus- 
trations with "a series of very entertaining biof^raphical sketches. As 
far as possible, he has made the artists their own interpreters, giving 
their own commentaries upon art and upon their purposes iu its prac- 
tice instead of his own.'"'— Boston Post. 

"'American Painters' consists of biographical sketches of fifty 
leading American artists, with eighty-three exjimples of their works 
engraved on wood with consummate skill, delicacy of toiicli, and 
appreciation of distinctive manner. Ii is a gallery of contemporary 
American art.''''— Philadelphia Press. 

''This work is one of surpassing interest, and of marvelous typo- 
graphical and illustrative beauty y— Philadelphia Item. 

"The whole undertaking is a noble one, illustrative of the best 
period of American art, and as such deserves the attention and sup- 
port of the public."— C/Mcag'O Tnbnne. 



D. APPLETON & CO., Publmhers, 549 & 551 .Broadway, N. Y- 



SOCIAL ETIODETTE OF NEW YORK. 

Contents: The Value of Etiquette— Introductions— Solicitations- 
Strangers in Town— Debuts in Society— Visiting, and Visiting- 
Cards lor Ladies— Card and Visiting-Customs for Gentlemen- 
Morning Receptions and Kettle-Drums— Giving and attending 
Parties, Balls, and Germans— Dinner-giving and Dining out — 
Breakfasts, Luncheons, and Suppers— Opera and Theatre Parties, 
Private Theatricals, and Musicales — Etiquette of Weddings — 
Christenings and Birthdays — Marriage Anniversaries — New- 
Year's-Day in New York — Funeral Customs and Seasons of 
Mourning:. 



ISzuo. Clotli, gilt edges, price, $1.00. 



"This little volume contains numerous hints and suggestions, 
which are specially serviceable to strangers, and which even people 
to the manner born will find interesting and useful. Perhaps the best 
part of it is in what it doe? not say. the indefinable suggestion of 
good-breeding and refinement which its well-written pages make." — 
New York Evening Express. 

" A sensible and brief treatise, which young persons may profitably 
read." — New YorJc Evening Post. 

"Everything which refines the habits of a people ennobles it, and 
hence the importance of furnishing to the public all possible aids to 
superior manners. This book will undoubtedly meet the needs of a 
large class." — Boston Evening Transcript. 

"A frank and sensible epitome of the customs of good society in 
the first city of America. It admits the existence and need of certain 
rules of social behavior, and then in a kindly and decorous manner 
points out how to conform to the best usage." — Boston Commonwealth. 

"A very sensible and — if we may say it of a book — well-bred vol- 
ume. It gives the rules that are observed in the metropolis. The?e 
sometimes seem artificial, but they are usually founded on reason." — 
Hartford Con rant. 

"This is a timely work. For years our people have followed the 
habits of the older nations. In this young republic it can not be ex- 
pected that the same rules exist as we find abroad. This work is very 
complete, and is easily carried in the pocket to read at odd intervals." 
— Albany Sunday Press. 

" The statements are exact and simple, and cover all that any reader 
is likely to desire. The work will convey positively useful and relia- 
ble instruction that can not always be reached otherwise."— i%2/adei- 
phia North American. 



D. APPLETON & CO., Publishers, 549 & 551 Broadway, N. Y. 



HEALTH PRIMERS. 

EDITED BY 

J. LANGDON DOWN, M. D., F. R. C. P. 
HENRY POWER, M. B., F. R. C. S. 
J. MORTIMER-GRANVILLE, M. D. 
JOHN TWEEDY, F. R. C. S. 

THOUGH it is of the ^rreatest importance that hooks upon health 
should be in the highest degree trustworthy, it is notorious that 
most of the cheap and popular kind are mere crude compilations of 
incompetent persons, and are often misleading and injurious. Im- 
pres:red hy the^e considerations, several eminent medical and scien- 
tific men of London have combined to prepare a series of Health 
Primers of a character that shall be er.titled to the fullest confidence. 
They are to be brief, simple, and elementary in statement, filled with 
substantial and useful information suitable for the guidance of grown- 
up people. Each primer will be written by a gentleman specially 
competent to treat his subject, while the critical supervision of the 
books is in the hands of a committee who will act as editors. 

As these little books are produced by English authors, they are 
naturally based very much upon English experience, but it matters 
little whence illustrations upon such subjects are drawn, because the 
essential conditions of avoiding disease and preserving health are to 
a great degree everywhere the same. 

VOLUMES OF THE SERIES. 



Exercise and Training. (lUus 
trated.) 

Alcohol : Its Use and Abuse. 

The House and its Surround- 
ings. 

Premature Death : Its Promo- 
tion or Prevention. 

Personal Appearances in 
Health and Disease. (Il- 
lustrated.) 

Baths and Bathing. 



The Heart and its Functions. 
The Head 

Clothing and Dress. 
Water. 

The Skin and its Troubles. 
Fatigue and Pain. 
The Ear and i earing. 
The Eye and Vision. 
Temperature in Health and 
Disease. 



In square 16rao volumes, cloth, price, 40 cents each. 



For sale by all booksellers. Any volume mailed^ post-paid, to any 
address in the United States, on receipt of price. 

D. APPLE TOM &' CO., Publishers, 

549 & 551 Broadway, New York. 



ALL AROUND THE HOUSE ; 



HOV/ TO MAKE HOMES HAPPY. 

BY 

Mrs. HENRY WARD BEECHER, 

Author of " Motherly Talks," etc. 



1 vol., 12mo. Cloth I*rice, $1.50. 



" This volurae consists of the reprint of those social chats with 
youn<^ housekeepers in which Mrs. Beecher so excels, toirether with 
a laro;e number of receipts. The volume is as sensible and practical 
within as it is ueat and attractive without." — A"ew York Examiner 
and Chronicle. 

"The book is an encyclopaedia of household information, which 
no woman can read without benefit. It can not fail to be a help to 
many untaught housekeepers, while the more experienced may find 
suggestions of value. The volume wonld be a blessing if it could go 
into every household and be attentively read." — Chicago Inter- Ocean. 

"She has not lived in vain who has gathered together so much 
of worldly wisdom, and bequeathed it in such attractive form to those 
who come after her. treading the dangerous quicksands that be-^et do- 
mestic life in this nervous and electrical age." — San Francisco Exen- 
ing Post. 

" Every house which has Mrs. Beecher's book will be the happier 
for if— Erie (Pa.) Sunday Morning Gazette. 

" The book is counselor and cook combined, and a treasure in any 
house." — Toledo Sunday Journal. 

"No book has appeared among the many issued for the house- 
hold which combines so many excellences for the promotion of do- 
mestic well-being." — New York Baptist Weekly. 

" No housekeeper can read the book without advantage."— J./5awy 
Journal. 

" This is an invaluable book; its paees contain a liberal education 
in household matters.'" —Nashville Daily American. 

" Mrs. Beecher has produced a bonk which should find a resting- 
place in every housewife's \ibrary.''''—Philadelphia Record. 



D. APPLETON & CO., 549 & 551 Broadway, New York. 



EN&LISH M AMERICAN LITERATURE, 

Forming the Second Volume of " Literature Primers," 



EDITED BT 



J. R. GREEN, M. A., 

Examiner in the School of Modem History at Oxford, 



AND CONTAINING 



ENGLISH LITERATURE. By Stopfoed Beooke, M. A. 
AMERICAN LITERATURE. By J. Haeeis Patton. 



In one volume. Flexible cloth, 45 cents. 



From the New York Observer. 

"D. Appleton & Co. have published (in their series of 'Lit- 
erature Primers ') a new edition of Stopford Brooke's ' English 
Literature,' with a valuable addition on American Literature. 
Into about twenty pages Mr. Patton has condensed a summary 
of the principal American writers on the several departments of 
letters, with a brief indication of the character of their works, 
but without attempting a catalogue. Few of the leading writers 
of the two centuries are omitted. The book will be very useful 
as a text-book, and also for reference. For schools its value is 
much increased by the series of suggestive questions appended." 



D. APPLETON & CO., Publishers, !>49 & 551 Broadway, N. Y. 



THE 



Experimental Science Series. 



In neat 12nio volumes, bound in cloth, fully 
illustrated. Price per volume, $1.00. 



This series of scientific books for boys, pirls, and students of every afre, 
was desiirned by Prof. Alfred M. Mayer, Ph.D., of the Stevens Institute 
of Tecbnolo.ry, Hoboken, New Jersey. Every book is addressed directly 
to the yoau? student, and be is tauglit to construct his own apparatus out 
of the cheapest and most common materials to be found. Should the 
reader make all the apparatus described in the first book of this series, he 
will spend only $12.40. 



NOW READY: 

I.— LIGHT: 

A Series of Simple, Entertaining, and Inexpensive Experiments in the Phe- 
nomena of Light, for Students of every Age. 

By ALFRED M. MATER and CHARLES BARNARD. 

II.— SOUND: 

A Series of Simple. Entertaining, and Inexpensive Experiments in the Phe- 
nomena ot Sound, for the Use of Students ot every Age. 

B)j ALFRED MARSHALL MA YER, 

Professor of Physics in the Stevens Institute of Technology; Member of 
the National Academy of Sciences; of the American Philosophical 
Society. Philadelphia; of the American Academy of Arts and 
Sciences. Boston; of the New York Academy of Sci- 
ences; of the German Astronomical Society; of 
the American Otological Society; and Hon- 
orary Member of the New York 
Ophthalmological Society. 

In Active Prepakation: 

III. Vision and the Nature of Light. 

IV, Electricity and Magnetism. 
V, Heat. 

TI. Mechanics. 
VII. Chemistry. 

VIII. The Art of experimenting with Cheap and Sim- 
ple Instruments. 

L APPLET ON & CO., Publishers, 549 & 551 Broadway, N. T 



